Eugenia G. Plattenburg

PLATTENBURG, Eugenia Gerak, age 90, formerly of Oakwood, died peacefully on November 15, 2022. Genie was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother…and so much more.

Genie was born near Johnstown, Pennsylvania and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. During her elementary years, she learned to garden, a passion she enjoyed her entire life. She attended Ohio University, where she met her husband, Walter. She graduated from Flora Stone Mather College at Case Western Reserve University, and she and Walter settled in Dayton to raise five children.

As she was rearing her children, she managed to substitute teach, coach tennis, get her M.A. in English while teaching at University of Dayton, serve as a docent at the Dayton Art Institute, teach Sunday School, achieve her Master Gardener certification, sing in the St. Paul’s choir, review science fiction and fantasy novels for Wright Library, play fierce tennis, and volunteer for various school events, among other things. She and her husband, Walter competed in the Senior Olympics until he died. She continued playing tennis through her late 80’s. 

Genie traveled extensively and fearlessly throughout Europe and Asia, convinced she could make anyone understand her if she spoke loud enough. She was an ardent and vocal supporter of civil liberties even when her outspokenness wasn’t popular. And in the late 1970’s when she was told there couldn’t be a junior high school’s girls’ tennis team as there were no open courts for the girls to practice on, she commandeered a school van and drove them herself three times a week to the University of Dayton, which laid the cornerstone for the very first Oakwood Junior High School Girls’ Tennis Team. 

She was preceded in death by her husband of 49 years, Walter in 2005, her brother Theodore Gerak and her sister, Helen Olbright. She is survived by her brother Ronald Gerak (Gloria) of San Diego, her daughters, Connie (John McCaslin) of Pittsburgh and Paula (Andrew Waizmann) of Dayton; her sons, Todd, of Dayton, Ted (Eva) of Cincinnati, and James (Lisa) of Ft. Walton Beach; five grandsons, Henry McKay (Sarah) of Pittsburgh, William McCaslin of Baltimore, Jack McCaslin of Washington, D.C.; Gustav Plattenburg (Kaci) of Atlanta and Niklas Plattenburg of Denver. She is also survived by two great grandsons, Jesse and Robin McKay. 

She will be remembered for her humanity, her love of family, tennis, and gardens, her raucous sense of humor, her vicious backhand slice, and her lifelong friends.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Cox Arboretum, Conservation Kids Program, which nurtures a love of gardening and conservation among young people. Conservation Kids Program, Cox Arboretum Foundation; 409 East Monument Ave., 3rd Fl; Dayton, OH 45402. Or to Move UKRAINE, an international foundation created by friends to help Ukrainians rebuild their homes, lives and communities: https://www.moveukraine.org/ In both cases, please denote “In memory of Eugenia Plattenburg.”

Services will be held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Oakwood, 33 W Dixon Ave, Dayton, OH 45419 at 11:00am Saturday, December 10