(1955 - 2025)

Associate Gerene Starratt, known as Gerry, died on June 29, 2025, at home in Fort Pierce, Florida, at the age of 70 following a brief battle with cancer.

Gerry was born on April 6, 1955, in Dolton, Illinois, to Chris and Dolores Konow. She was the couple’s first child, followed 13 months later by a brother, Chris.

Her father was a veteran of the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. Much of his enlistment was spent aboard the aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge as an ordnanceman, a job which included having to clear the deck of the bombs that occasionally fell off the fighter planes as they landed. Gerry wrote in her autobiography, “His job was to run onto the deck, pick up the bomb, unscrew the detonator, and throw it overboard.”

When he came home from Korea, he got a job with Illinois Bell and would remain with the various iterations of the phone company for the rest of his working life. Dolores was a stay-at-home mom when the couple’s children were young, later working as an elementary school secretary and then establishing a small bookkeeping business.

After the legendary January 1967 blizzard that unexpectedly dumped almost two feet of snow on the Chicago area in 29 hours’ time, Chris and Dolores became determined never to spend another winter in the snow and moved the family to Florida, where they settled in Fort Pierce.

It was there that, a few years later, Gerry met the man who became her best friend and the love of her life, Christopher, or Kit as he is better known. The couple married in 1974 and went on to have three children, sons Lane and Ian and daughter Valerie.

Kit’s connection to the Adrian Dominicans began in kindergarten at St. Anastasia School in Fort Pierce and continued throughout elementary school and all the way through his years at John Carroll High School. His family was active in St. Anastasia Parish and, when Gerry and Kit first began dating, Mass there was her introduction to the Catholic faith. She had been baptized in the Holland Reformed Church, which her family attended regularly in Chicago, but once they moved to Florida, they did not become affiliated with a church although Gerry went to various churches with friends as the opportunity presented itself.

The first time she attended Mass with Kit, however, “it felt like I had come home,” she wrote in her autobiography. The couple were married at St. Anastasia, and she was confirmed in the faith when their first child was baptized. Both her parents later became Catholic as well.

Gerry and Kit moved to several locations around the U.S. over the years for education and employment. One of their stops was Pittsburgh, where Gerry began her college studies in earnest. She had completed a year at community college after high school, but then marriage, work, and motherhood became her focus for several years. Then, with Kit as her role model, she enrolled at Chatham College (now Chatham University) and completed a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Later, she received her Ph.D. in experimental cognitive psychology at Florida Atlantic University.

Kit became a member of the psychology faculty at Barry College (now Barry University) in 1993, and Gerry joined him there in 2000. She left in 2005 to become an education researcher for the Broward County Public Schools. She returned to Barry in 2011 to teach education research in the Adrian Dominican School of Education and remained there until her retirement.

Being at Barry brought the couple back into contact with the Adrian Dominicans, and in 2016 they both became Associates. 

Gerry was very involved in Associate Life. She also lived out her commitment to the Congregation’s Enactments in many ways, including assisting with Barry’s environmental stewardship efforts and accompanying Barry students to Adrian for the annual Environmental Leadership Experience program. 

She wrote in her autobiography that she viewed her role at Barry as a ministry, because her work helped equip future education researchers to address the problems in U.S. education that often result from inequity, and because, as a first-generation college student herself, she could help young people in that situation overcome obstacles.

In her and Kit’s parish, St. Jerome in Fort Lauderdale, she played a very active role, singing in the Chancel Choir (along with Kit); being part of the Women’s Emmaus ministry, including as a retreat leader; and at one time serving as president of the Home and School Association and as secretary and then president of the School Advisory Board.

Gerry retired from Barry in 2020 but continued to teach as an adjunct faculty member and remained involved with life at the university for as long as she could.

Barry’s statement upon her death included these words:

Dr. Starratt was known for her intellect, grace, and genuine care for the growth and development of her students and colleagues alike.

Dr. Starratt shared a life of service in education and faith with her husband, Dr. Christopher “Kit” Starratt, who also served the Barry University community and retired after 27 years of dedicated leadership. Together, Drs. Gerry and Kit Starratt were Adrian Dominican Associates, a reflection of their deep alignment with the mission and values of the Adrian Dominican Sisters and Barry University.

… Her contributions will remain a lasting part of Barry’s history and spirit.