Greenfield Center - Gretchen W. Zeh of Wilton Road died unexpectedly in the early morning hours of Thursday, April 9, 2009 at Saratoga Hospital with her three sons by her side. She was 72 years old. Gretchen was born July 9, 1936 in Niagara Falls, NY. She was the only child of the late Karl S. and Gwendolyn (Milkey) Wright. Gretchen graduated from Wilson, NY High School and received a BS in Music from Skidmore College in 1957, where she met and later married her husband Walter. She also completed graduate course work at Syracuse University and Russell Sage College. Gretchen would humbly and reluctantly have acknowledged a lifetime of volunteer and paid public service. This service included many years as a VISTA Volunteer for Literacy Volunteers of Saratoga; Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Citizens Committee for Mental Health; Co-Chair of Volunteer Service for the Saratoga County Mental Health Center; Board member for Transitional Services Associates, a community residence for the developmentally disabled; Board Development Chairwoman for the Saratoga County Economic Opportunity Council. She was a tireless motivator and organizer, reveling in grass-roots campaigning, particularly on behalf of people whom she felt could not speak for themselves. She worked as an unpaid lobbyist, preparing a delivering public hearing testimony, interviewing (and badgering) legislators, burning up the phones and writing countless letters. She had extensive knowledge of community resources and she knew how to make use of them. She was a committed and devoted member of the League of Women Voters. She also worked for many years as a receptionist for the Legal Aid Society, for whose attorneys and legal assistants she a deep fondness. For over three decades she worked as the organist and choir co-director for the Saratoga United Methodist Church. She worked nights and many weekends in this capacity while doing her other work and raising three sons. Gretchen would less humbly and reluctantly have acknowledged her profound love for her four granddaughters Megan, Rebecca, Olivia and Erica. It's quite possible her friends A.C., Marilyn, Marge, Cori, Patsy, Greta and the rest of her "lunch bunch" might have heard her brag from time to time about her granddaughters. She will be missed by those friends who will feel her absence from the lunch table. She is survived by her sons; Karl and his wife Wendy of Middle Grove, Arthur and his wife Linda of Ballston Spa, Stanley of Greenfield Center and her four granddaughters. She would also want her "adopted" daughter June Egeland and her son Clinton mentioned because of the special place they held in Gretchen's heart. Also, her dear neighbors Mike and Kathy Heller and their daughter Emma were also included in her extended family. In addition to her parents, she is predeceased by her husband Walter who passed away in November 1999. They enjoyed the latter of their 41 years together traveling to the Southwest, Alaska and New Zealand. She will be missed by the many friends and other people whom she touched in her life, for whom there is simply insufficient space herein to name. She left the world a better place that she found it. Services will be private at the convenience of the family.