Jan. 20, 2025 marked the ending of a long and productive life of 97 years. Gertrude E. Furst passed peaceably at Samarkand’s Smith Center surrounded by family.

Always known as Trudy Furst by friends and colleagues, her favored moniker was Teddy Bear (named by her grandson, Jeff Clark, at age 4.

Trudy was born in Iowa City, Iowa, on Oct. 11, 1927 to Alva Roy Butterbaugh and Ceceilia Butterbaugh. Her older sister Frances Martha Butterbaugh Collings predeceased her in 2003.

Moving to California in 1945, she met and married Harry R. Furst and had one daughter Christine. Moving out of Los Angeles County in 1955, the family settled in Santa Barbara.

Trudy preceded her real estate career with a brief time as a Welcome Wagon hostess. One of the long time, successful Realtors at Sunset Company, she built an impressive clientele and purchased several properties of her own.

To fulfill her dream of living in the mountains, Trudy purchased land in Weaverville, California, and built her log home there, where she spent over 20 years, enjoying the deer that would grace her yard.

Victor Cuny, a kind and loving man, shared most of those years with Trudy. Various infirmities led her to seek assistance from retirement communities in Redding and Bishop, California, and finally Samarkand in Santa Barbara.

Fiercely independent but sharing her humor with everyone, Trudy was often the life of the party. People gravitated to her as she was so interested in everyone she met.

She researched her family history and wrote a book that combined her family journey with the American past.

She had great love for her grandsons Dan Clark and Jeff Clark. She cared for her sister’s children Sharon Angulo and Michele McKee as well. She also leaves behind three wonderful great grandchildren Spencer Philip Clark, Ciel Wyn Clark, and Danny Shay Clark.