Gertrude Brooks Hankin, 90, interior decorator

Gertrude Brooks Hankin, 90, of Jenkintown, interior decorator for several buildings developed by the Hankin Organization, died Thursday, July 19, at her home.

Mrs. Hankin was the wife of Perch Hankin, one of the founders of the Hankin Organization.

Born in Philadelphia, she graduated from Overbrook High School, attended Bucknell University, and earned a bachelor's degree in liberal arts at what is now Arcadia University in 1943 after marrying Mr. Hankin in 1942.

She worked in the chain of millinery stores operated by her parents in Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Delaware.

Son Mark, founder of the Hankin Management Co., successor to the Hankin Organization, said in a Monday interview that his parents' firm built and operated the George Washington Motor Lodges in King of Prussia, Trevose, Plymouth Meeting, and Allentown and operated Howard Johnson motels in Horsham and Willow Grove.

Mrs. Hankin was responsible for the interior decoration at all, Mark Hankin said.

The firm also developed, among other locations, the Willow Grove Bowling Lanes and its three restaurants, whose decoration she managed, he said.

Mrs. Hankin was a founding shareholder of the Bank and Trust Co. of Old York Road in Willow Grove and the Bank of King of Prussia, for whose offices she was the interior decorator.

She was president of the local chapter of ORT America and of the auxiliary of the Home for the Jewish Aged, both in the 1960s, Mark Hankin said. She was a member of the Israel Bonds organization.

Besides her son, Mrs. Hankin is survived by another son, George; daughter Madeline Nappen; seven grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren. Her husband died in 1990.

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Gertrude Brooks Hankin, 90, interior decorator