Gertrude “Trudy” Maxwell

April 3, 1929 - August 29, 2022

Our mom, Gertrude Elizabeth Francis Miller/Murison Maxwell died on August 29th, at Peninsula Hospital, in Burlingame, CA. She was a loving, devoted mother of nine, and wife to James Harvey Maxwell Jr. She is best remembered for her dedication to our family, Our Lady of Angels Parish Church and the Burlingame community. Funeral Services will be held at Our Lady of Angels Church in Burlingame on Saturday, November 26th at 11:00 AM. A reception will be held in the parish hall after the Mass.

Trudy was born on April 3rd, 1929, in San Francisco, Ca. to Aloysius Genevieve Miller Murison and John Randolf Murison. She attended Presentation High School in San Francisco and worked at UCSF before meeting and marrying James Harvey Maxwell, Jr., also of San Francisco at St. Rita’s Church in Fairfax. In 1961 after their first six children were born, they moved to Our Lady of Angels Parish in Burlingame, California.

Trudy Maxwell is survived by eight of her nine children, James Maxwell, Marybeth Hartzell, Melanie Fuller, Marcia Cutchin, Monica Maxwell, Andrew Maxwell, Madonna Maxwell, Jason Maxwell, 20 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. Melissa Maxwell, her fourth child, died in the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.

Our mom was amazing. She sang to us, read to us, fed us, led us, encouraged us, organized us, and loved us all to a fault. She was beautiful, creative, enterprising, practical and quietly proud. She had a great wit and sense of humor that will be sorely missed in her absence. The doors to the home in which she raised us were always open. She regularly arranged, hosted and cooked for family gatherings of 30 or 40. We spent a great many holidays and days and weeks of our adult lives continuing to congregate at the home our parents so generously provided for family gatherings.

Our Mom spent a number of years as an active member of the Mother’s Club at Our Lady of Angels Parochial School. When the school ordered its first shipment of computers for the classrooms, she took a course at UC Berkeley to prepare herself to be the first instructor at OLA to introduce computer literacy to the students.

She was a member of the Peninsula Choraliers and the Burlingame Community Theater. She was a lector and cantor at Our Lady of Angels Church and the congregation will remember her for the years she spent leading the singing of the hymns at mass.

In addition to singing, Mom loved reading and words. Every night, without fail, with some curled up around her and some seated on the floor beside her bed, she would narrate picture books to us. She was a great supporter of the Burlingame public library and when we had all grown and left the nest, she took to sharing her love of words by tutoring people at the library who were learning English as a second language.

All of our years growing up, our house was filled with singing, dancing, projects and crafting, holidays, and laughter and tears. She was the fabric that held us all together. She was our world. We will miss you mom and can only be consoled knowing you will be with Dad and Melissa, your mom, your dad, Aunty Beth and Uncle Buddy.

In remembrance of you, and until we meet again, James, Marybeth, Melanie, Marcia, Monica, Andrew, Madonna and Jason.