ROGERS PARK — Jennifer "Gidget" Green, a former homeless woman known by some for her disruptive behavior on Morse Avenue, died last month, according to activists who helped her get off the street and into her own home.
"It was particularly heartbreaking after having spent Christmas with her last year," said Kelly Hayes. "We all have great memories of that, and wanted to do something special with her this year for the holidays, but we take comfort that she died in peace in her own home, and that she had good people in her life."
Hayes said Green died Dec. 10 in her Uptown apartment after suffering complications from persistent pneumonia.
No one has come forward to claim Green's body, but a memorial service will take place soon, Hayes said.
Green spent the better part of 2013 in her new apartment, subsidized through social service organizations, after a judge slapped her with a drinking in the public way charge, said activist Jim Ginderske, a friend of the deceased woman.
Thanks in part to the people who came to help her, she avoided a jail sentence.
"The bottom line is," Ginderske said, "she died at home."
Katy Hogan, co-founder of the Heartland Cafe, said she remembered Green from warmer months when she would spend time both inside and outside the cafe.
Hogan said Green was off-putting to many people because she was "smelly and loud," but after "we got to know her as a human being," they were able to see her for who she was.
