Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Gerace, Mary M. March 19, 1998
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Richmond Times-Dispatch  March 21, 1998
"Age only matters if you're cheese," Mary Gerace once told a reporter.

And she proved it by taking up belly-dancing at age 80.

Mrs. Gerace , who continued to dance until a few months ago, died Thursday at the 
age of 91.

An experienced ballroom dancer as well, she performed under the name "Shasta" at 
retirement communities and for senior citizens groups, where she urged her 
contemporaries to "throw their rocking chairs out" by dancing with her.

"I also do rock 'n' roll," she boasted in a 1988 interview.

Her niece, Pat Odom, said Mrs. Gerace's energy was unflagging. On trips to 
Virginia Beach, she always found a restaurant with a dance floor.

"She would dance all night until the band stopped playing. And she really boogied. 
By the end of the night, all the young men would be asking her to dance and she 
was well over 80."

An avid gardener, she tended to more than 1,000 azaleas on her property and 
collected milk glass from all over the world.

She was a former president of the senior citizens' activity group Golden Glow Club 
and she served as a Eucharistic minister for St. Peter Catholic Church.

A native of Harrisburg, Pa., she never finished school, instead taking a job as a 
sweatshop seamstress in her early teens. That experience led to work with the 
Virginia Department of Labor, investigating child labor law and safety violations 
for 28 years.

"She dealt with some pretty rough customers," Odom said. "She always carried a gun 
when she had to go and confront people breaking the law. And even though she never 
got a high school diploma, she understood labor laws inside and out."

"She was a very unusual woman. Aunt Mary had a twinkle in her blue eyes you could 
spot a mile away. The devil was in there."

Mrs. Gerace was the widow of Dominic Gerace.

Survivors include a brother, Peter John Spangle of Harrisburg, Pa.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at noon Monday at St. Peter Catholic Church, 800 
E. Grace Street.

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