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Geraldine (Geri) Rasmussen died peacefully on February 23, 2022 in Branford, CT at age 96. Marie Fernande Geraldine Gamache was born on May 23, 1925 in Lewiston, Maine to Leontine and Maxime Gamache. The youngest of five siblings in a family of French-Canadian ancestry, Geri was baptized as a Roman Catholic in Lewiston before the family relocated to West Hartford, CT where Geri spent her youth. Visually-impaired from birth, Geri completed early education with the help of a vision-assistance program and graduated from West Hartford Public High School before graduating in 1947 from St. Joseph’s College in Hartford, CT with a Bachelor of Science degree. Geri interned at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, OH to become a Registered Dietician, and returned to Hartford to work at St. Francis Hospital as a therapeutic dietician. In 1950, Geri became the Chief Dietician at the United Hospital Medical Center in Port Chester N.Y. where she worked for ten years. While living in Port Chester, Geri met her husband Margart Vinther (Max) Rasmussen, a recent Danish émigré who shared her love of gourmet food, travel and dancing. The couple were married in 1960 and quickly had two sons, Mark and Dan, before relocating to Norwalk, CT, where a third son, Max, was born. The family settled in the village of Rowayton, CT in 1970. Both before and after becoming a stay-at-home mom raising three boys, Geri always found time for various projects and passions including cooking, pottery, painting, swimming and dance. When Geri lost all vision in 1973, she learned to read Braille in the evenings after putting the children to bed, and quickly labeled every canned food and spice in the house. A fluent typist since high school, Geri transitioned from manual to electric typewriters, and to using a ‘talking’ computer when speech-assisted software became available. Believing that volunteering is a benefit to both the community and oneself, Geri began volunteering at the Rowayton Elementary School and Norwalk Hospital and never stopped. Geri saw disability as a challenge, not a barrier, and was an early advocate for equal rights for disabled individuals to remove barriers to their success. Geri researched and wrote a column entitled ‘Handicaptions’ for The Hour (Norwalk) newspaper to raise awareness and provide information to the disabled community for several years starting in 1979, and helped establish a supervised swimming program for the visually handicapped called ‘Eye Openers’ at the YMCA in Darien, CT. Geri served on many councils and committees including appointments to the Connecticut State Vocational Rehabilitation Council for the Board of Education and Services for the Blind, and to the Norwalk Mayor’s Disability Advisory Committee. Geri was recognized as an Outstanding Volunteer by the Norwalk Volunteer Action Center in 1987, and awarded the 2001 Celebrate Women! Award for dedication to advocating for persons with disabilities. Geri loved music, dancing, cooking and red wine. Above all she loved spending time with family and close friends. Following the death of her beloved husband Max in 1995, Geri lived independently for many years at the Hill Top Homes senior housing facility thanks to tremendous help and generosity from the Rowayton community, caregivers and many friends. Geri was predeceased by her husband Max Rasmussen, her brothers Sarto Gamache and Gerard Gamache, her sisters Bertha Breault and Pauline Ficor, and niece Joyce Franciscus. Geri is survived by her three sons, Mark, Dan and Max, by seven grandsons Connor, Trey, Taylor, Thomas, Robert (Bo), Max and Jack Rasmussen and granddaughter Lydia Castillo. Geri is also survived by many nieces and nephews, including an especially close nephew Greg Breault of Cornwall, CT. The Rasmussen family is extremely grateful for the excellent staff and services of The Branford Hills Health Care Center who provided superb long-term care and comfort to Geri for the past ten years. Thank you all! Donations in Geri’s memory would be welcome at the American Foundation for the Blind (www.AFB.org) from which she received much support for many years.
