A STORYTELLER PASSES. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports the death of Nick Georgiady, co-author of Gertie the Duck.


The story behind the story is worth retelling.

In the 1940s, Milwaukee native Nick Georgiady was serving with the U.S. Army Air Forces when he discovered a story from back home in Stars and Stripes.

The star of the story became known as "Gertie the Duck." In the war-weary spring of 1945, Gertie laid her eggs atop a piling on the Milwaukee River in downtown Milwaukee. She became instant news - including on the wire services and in Life magazine - attracting throngs of enchanted and sometimes worried duck-watchers.

Years later, schoolteacher Georgiady became the co-author of a bestselling "Gertie the Duck" book. He created the book with Louis Romano, a buddy from Milwaukee. Romano also served with the Army Air Forces and became a schoolteacher in the Milwaukee area.

"Anything catching the more human side of living was a nice relief," Georgiady later recalled of those war days.