Gertrude Mokotoff was from Brooklyn, but she spent more than 60 years in Middletown, and she was one of its biggest advocates. 

"She was instrumental, one of the key people, in having the old railroad station converted into the public library, saving that building, the historical building," said City of Middletown Mayor Joseph DeStefano.  

Mokotoff was an alderwoman, Common Council president, and a woman of firsts: the first female city mayor, serving from 1990 to 1993, and the first to teach a very specific field of study at SUNY Orange. 

"She was here in the ‘60s and the ‘70s as a faculty member in medical lab technology, and she was I believe, the first person to teach electron microscopy in community colleges, period. So she brought that program here which is really exceptional for a community college," said SUNY Orange President Dr. Kristine Young.  

She was also the first to offer classes for senior learners at SUNY Orange, called the “Encore Program.”

As if Mokotoff wasn't busy enough for years on end, she found time in her 90s to find love again after her husband had died. A date at Something Sweet Cafe, and the rest was history. She was the one who proposed. 

"When Gert referred to you as 'dahling,’ that meant it was serious business. So she gave me, 'Dahling, I'm going to get married and I need you to do the ceremony, and I want to do it at City Hall.' So I said, 'Of course I will do that,'" said DeStefano.  

We introduced you to her husband Alvin Mann when he graduated from Mount St. Mary's College in 2016. 

"It was just a wonderful 10 years together. We went places, we did things, we went into the city often, went to the ballet, the opera," said Mokotoff's husband Al Mann.  

Those who knew her say she was sharp until the end of her 100 years of life. She died peacefully Wednesday.

"No pain, no nothing. I said, 'I got pain in my heart, more than she has,'" said Mann. 

Those who knew her are sad to know she's gone — but it's safe to say Gertrude Motokoff loved the city, and the people in it, with all her heart. She left a permanent mark in Middletown. 

Services will be held Friday morning at Temple Sinai in Middletown. Memorial contributions can be made to the Mokotoff Scholarship Fund at SUNY Orange.