{"id":9273,"date":"2022-02-03T08:13:49","date_gmt":"2022-02-03T13:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=9273"},"modified":"2022-02-03T08:13:50","modified_gmt":"2022-02-03T13:13:50","slug":"an-unbelievable-memory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2022\/02\/03\/an-unbelievable-memory\/","title":{"rendered":"An Unbelievable Memory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At 91, Triple Eagle Alice Gerber Still Supporting People with Parkinson’s Disease<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Just Another Monday<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was a hot, late-summer day at the Farmers Market in Tybee Island, Georgia. Perched under the protection of a broad-brimmed hat sparkled the bright hazel eyes of Alice Gerber, Ed.D. (\u201974, \u201906,\u201906). The 91-year-old was cheerfully preparing her stand to sell her paintings, handmade jewelry and art pieces made from recycled materials. All sales benefited the Get Excited and Move (GEM) program for people with Parkinson\u2019s disease Gerber helped found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally from Chicago, Gerber graduated from Northwestern. Then, while visiting relatives in Savannah, she met her future husband, businessman, Marx Gerber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy aunt fixed me up on a blind date with Marx,\u201d said Gerber. \u201cI went back home and he called me every evening. It was one of those long distance romances.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After marrying and beginning a teaching career in Savannah, her knack for helping special education students was discovered. So Gerber went to Georgia Southern for a master\u2019s degree in education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then everything changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parkinson\u2019s Disease Struck<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In 1980, Gerber\u2019s husband was diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease. Before the diagnosis, the couple traveled the world for years trying everything they could to diagnose the disease and ease the symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe didn’t actually get a diagnosis until toward the very end of his life because few people knew what Parkinson’s was and they couldn\u2019t diagnose it like today,\u201d said Gerber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Infuriated by the lack of information and support, Gerber set about to change things. She helped organize the first meeting of the Savannah Parkinson’s Support Group. Due to Gerber\u2019s relentless drive for more information, she became an expert herself, often teaching health care providers
and caregivers how to best care for Parkinson’s patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Back to School at 72<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While working with the Parkinson\u2019s group, Gerber realized they all had something in common. That realization changed her life again. At age 72, she wanted to conduct research on Parkinson’s disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, I went to Georgia Southern and said I’d like to do some research,\u201d explained Gerber. \u201cThey said \u2018start school tomorrow\u2019 and I said, you’re crazy. I haven\u2019t been in school for 35 years. \u2018You start tomorrow and we’ll get somebody to help you.\u2019 They got the head of nursing to help me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Gerber\u2019s research discovered was that many of the Parkinson\u2019s group were born in rural areas, drank well water when they were children and had parents or grandparents involved in agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, I felt back then that paraquat [a widely used herbicide] in the soil was one of the things that was causing the disease,\u201d said Gerber. \u201cOf course, the \u2018experts\u2019 poo pooed me. Today, scientists are sure that paraquat is one of the triggers of Parkinson’s.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gerber graduated with a doctorate in educational leadership and administration in 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the research phase of her doctoral dissertation, Gerber met and began working with the great boxer and Parkinson\u2019s patient, Muhammad Ali, establishing a long-lasting friendship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMuhammad Ali was very, very helpful to me with GEM,\u201d said Gerber. \u201cHe was kind and did a lot of lovely things to help me financially and otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Whole Story<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat’s the whole story of me and why I’m doing it, how I’m doing it,\u201d said Gerber. \u201cIt’s amazing. We started out with seven people in GEM, we\u2019ve got over 300 people in there today. That’s all it takes is one or two people trying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many patrons of the farmers market kept dropping by to purchase her artwork and to chat, remembering her as the teacher they or their children, even grandchildren had known. Unbelievably, Gerber remembered each one of them, their story and the artwork they had previously purchased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy paintings are 10 dollars,\u201d said Gerber to a customer. \u201cI sign anything you buy in case I become famous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Parkinson\u2019s community, Alice Gerber is already famous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Liz Walker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At 91, Triple Eagle Alice Gerber Still Supporting People with Parkinson’s Disease Just Another Monday It was a hot, late-summer day at the Farmers Market in Tybee Island, Georgia. Perched under the protection of a broad-brimmed hat sparkled the bright hazel eyes of Alice Gerber, Ed.D. (\u201974, \u201906,\u201906). The 91-year-old was cheerfully preparing her stand to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":9278,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[67],"class_list":["post-9273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-winter-2022"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}