Murphys, CA…Murphys resident Waldtraut “Wally” Gill died unexpectedly of natural causes on Wednesday, March 30th. She was 84 years old. Wally was born on March 11, 1932, in Newark, New Jersey, to Kate (Berlieb) and Thomas Rodegker, both originally from Germany. She attended South 17th Street Elementary and West Side High School in Newark, and spent her summers on the Jersey shore. She attended the Newark campus of Rutgers University, where she earned both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science. She studied Biology, Chemistry, and Zoology. In 1955, she received a Fullbright scholarship to study chemistry at the University of Munich, Germany for a year, one of only two such awards granted each year.

After college, Wally worked for the New York Chemical Procurement District Testing Laboratory as a chemist, before joining Ciba Pharmaceuticals. She later moved to Los Angeles, California, and worked at UCLA, where she ran experiments involving nuclear medicine. She married Robert Gill Jr in 1965, with whom she had two daughters. After her daughters were born, Wally worked as a bookkeeper and a special education aide.

Wally and her family moved to Calaveras County in 1981, where she first worked as a teacher before becoming a real estate agent. Wally was a realtor in the county for more than 20 years.

Wally had many interests, and loved knitting, traveling, gardening, spending time with her grandson, and going to the movies. She loved animals, especially her dachshunds. She was a member of the Master Gardeners of Calaveras County for 15 years, and also volunteered at the Murphys Senior Center. Wally was someone who could never sit still, and was always busy doing something.

Wally was preceded in death by her husband of 47 years, Robert Gill Jr. She is survived by her daughter Anneliese Gill and her husband, Brock Kolby, of Murphys; daughter Katherine Gill, of Palo Alto; her grandson Jimmy Kolby, of Murphys; her sister Mary Lou McNerney and her husband Joe McNerney, of Bethany Beach, Delaware; and her nephew Michael McNerney and his family, of Falls Church, Virginia. She is also survived by her pets, relatives in Florida and Germany, and many, many friends in Calaveras County.

A Celebration of Life will take place on Saturday, April 9th, at 11am, at the Master Gardener of Calaveras County Demonstration Garden, 891 Mountain Ranch Road, San Andreas. Friends and family are invited to share food and stories about Wally.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Calaveras Humane Society, the Calaveras County Master Gardeners, or the Murphys Senior Center.