Gail was born in Winchester Massachusetts on August 27th, 1931 to John and Helen FitzPatrick. She grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the youngest of three children, with older sister Joan and brother John, who went by Gary. Life was hard for her family, living through the Great Depression. Dad sold life insurance and Mom took care of children, sewed and mended, anything to help make ends meet. Gail grew up loving baseball and went to games at venerable Fenway Park, rooting for her heroes like Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky and Dom DiMaggio. Games against the hated Yankees were her favorite as she cheered for her team and booed the Bronx Bombers.
She told me she would also go ice skating in the wintertime on Boston Common with her brother Gary, skating for hours til their feet and skates were frozen. Gail also loved music from an early age and would often sing along with artists of the day on the radio and the phonograph. She had a great voice, I remember her singing to me a a child.
After high school, she worked as a waitress at the Jersey Shore, going to the beach with friends in the day and serving in the evening. I remember her telling me about using baby oil to get a good tan and warning me of the consequences of laying out in the sun. Later in life she would have many painful procedures to remove skin cancer, always blaming it on the those summers tanning at the shore.
Gail was a career woman before it was common, going to stewardess school for United Airlines. This was a very coveted job, with strict standards and a lot of competition for the position. She was based out of New York City at La Guardia Airport. She shared an apartment with her friend Maureen and a couple other girls. In a brush with fame, one of her roommates dated Vin Scully, the Hall of Fame announcer for the Brooklyn Dodgers, who would go on to Los Angeles and work their games for 67 years.
She met my father and love of her life at a party at her apartment. From what she related to me there was always a party at her place. They drank a lot of beer at those parties, and they even had a beagle named Rheingold, who was named after a popular beer at the time. Dad went to school, worked as a waiter at the World Famous Stork Club and was a maitre de at Mamma Leones, while Mom flew and met lots of famous people while flying.
They got married in New York City in May of 1957, moving to California to begin raising a family. They honeymooned in Carmel and settled in San Francisco. Tom got a job with Pacific Bell the local phone company. Geoffrey, the first of 5 kids came along 9 months later and we lived in a small apartment on Sacramento St. in the City.
Gail raised 5 children, after Geoffrey, came Christopher, Adam, Andrew and Elizabeth. She made us the focus of her life as Dad worked all the time, commuting to San Francisco from San Carlos on the CalTrain. Gail hooked up with other former stewardesses in the area in an organization called Clipped Wings. All those ladies had children too and Clipped Wings was a big part of Mom’s social life. She still has some of those friends to this day.
In 1971, after several years in San Carlos, and with another addition to the family, Elizabeth, we moved to Redwood City to a beautiful yet quirky Spanish style home in Edgewood Park. Dad had his first heart attack in 1974 and my Mom was called upon to be the rock of the family. It was a role she would play many times over the course of her life. Dad’s second heart attack in 1981 would prove to be tragic, as he passed way on a family ski trip to Sugar Bowl. Widowed at age 49, life presented many challenges for Gail as she raised her family without her husband.
My Mom was deeply spiritual and practiced her faith at Mt Carmel. Her faith was very important to her. She was kind to others, selflessly giving time to those in need as a eucharistic minister, praying and giving out holy communion to the ill and injured at Sequoia Hospital. Another aspect of her faith was she was passionate about Pro Life, and worked very hard in the movement. She also worked for Holy Cross Cemetery for 9 years as a grief counselor, helping folks who had just lost loved ones. It is a recurring theme in her life as you can see.
Mom loved to travel, going on trips with friends and a group called Elder Hostel to visit countries in Europe, Egypt, Canada and all over the US. One of my favorite memories is when my wife and I took her to visit New Orleans. It was post Hurricane Katrina, and we stayed at the Avenue Plaza Hotel in the gorgeous Garden District. We went on three great tours, The City tour which showed us the Lower 9th Ward, the French Quarter and jazz clubs, and the world famous cemeteries. The second was the swamp tour, where went on a covered boat on the Pearl River and saw crocodiles, egrets, bald eagles and turtles sunning themselves. It was quite spectacular. The third tour we went on was to the famous Oak Alley, a plantation on the Mississippi River.
Mom was a huge Giants fan her whole California life and loved to watch all the games. Our family has great memories of going to the games in San Francisco with her on Mothers Day, and even taking her grandkids to games. Her grandson Matt related a story of going to CandleStick Park on the bus and she showed him how to score the game. Our cousin Rick gave her an autographed Hunter Pence World Series jersey that she loved.
My classy Mom was also an accomplished water color artist. Taking art classes at Canada College, she gained skill, confidence and a whole community of fellow art lovers. Her beautiful paintings will live on forever in our homes. Her water colors of nature and our families are all very special to us. A couple of her more notable works are a painting of Jackie Robinson, and Barry Bonds in his hey day. I have several of her paintings, among them my beloved Corgis, Reilly and Angus, a painting of Half Dome at sunset and a still life of a fruit bowl. She would later paint Oak Alley, quite an experience. She had an eye for color and light that was undeniable, and her paintings are beloved by all her family.
Mom continued to live in the family home on Oakdale St in Redwood City, into her late 80s, until a terrible fall in late 2018. She moved into a nice place called Vista Terrace in Belmont. She was still close to those she loved and was well taken care of by the staff. In 2020, when Covid hit, the facility went downhill in terms of care and the quality of employees. Also, because of the pandemic, she became a virtual prisoner in her apartment. We were unable to see her for a few months at a time on more than one occasion ,as the virus swept through the facility. When we did get to see her, it was always outside in the courtyard. We were always looking for opportunities to get her out in the world. One of our greatest memories of my mom is taking her to Pacifica to see the ocean. Our brother Andrew lived one house away from the seawall, and Gail would walk down to the railing to watch the waves crash on the rocks. Later, as her mobility declined, we would go over to the beach and sit in the car, right by the rail, watching the waves and the pelican army fly by. Mom would close her eyes and listen to the surf, completely at peace.
In 2022, our brother Adam and his wife Abby opened their home to Gail, so she could receive a higher quality of care. She lived in a bedroom surrounded by her art and all things familiar to her, including family photos and her possessions. We are certain the move from assisted living to Chico extended her life, and ensured her last days were spent with loving family. Surrounded by her children and grandchildren, she passed on Wednesday morning July 19th 2023.
She touched so many lives with her kindness and big heart, She leaves behind 5 children, 12 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren. We all will miss her deeply and we know that she is with the almighty, smiling down upon us.