Gail Grove February 8, 1923 - July 8, 2010

A woman stands at her kitchen window watching the birds at the feeder. Her blue eyes shine like the clear morning light. Children are laughing in the distance. Smiling softly, she remembers the sounds of her own sons and daughters ringing through the house.

Her life has been filled with the cries and laughter of children. Hers was the yard where all the neighborhood kids played. She sought out the children of migrant workers in the camps of Washington County. She drove underprivileged children to a kindergarten she helped start to see that they got as good a start in life as her own. She worked as a full-time volunteer with mentally challenged students. They were beautiful in her eyes and she taught them the same lessons she taught her own children...think for yourself, give of yourself, and don't take yourself too seriously.

Always her own woman, yet her unselfish heart is devoted to family, friends, and community. Her love is quiet and abiding...her strength is our strength.

She moves away from the window. The day is beginning. There's work to be done. Every day she finds a way to make the world a little better. Sometimes it's as simple as baking a pie - the best pie you ever tasted - made by a woman in a kitchen filled with sunlight.

We are thankful that this woman is our mother.

Gail is survived by her four children, Diane Pancoast, Doug, Tom, and Lisa Grove, her seven grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren. There will be a private family memorial service. Donations in her memory can be made to the Parkinson's Action Network Foundation or the Sisters chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

Information provided by the family of Gail Grove.