In 1995, Dixie (Eason) McCarthy's daughter, Maren Elizabeth, was married at the Alta Mira Hotel in Sausalito. This photo includes (L. to R.) Sandy Dunn (Gaven's wife), Amanda Eason (Dixie's cousin), Esmeralda Carini, and Gail Delaney. Also invited were Gail Delaney's mother and daughter, Dorothy Delaney and Denise Delaney. (Photo courtesy of Dixie McCarthy.)

 

Celebration of the Life of Gail Patricia Delaney

By Dixie Eason McCarthy

Delivered at Gail's Memorial Tea

Sunday October 2

We are here to show honor and love to my long time friend, Gail. To me, Gail will forever live on Victoria Road in Burlingame, the place she lived for many years of her short life.

I first met Gail at the neighborhood Washington Elementary School, in Miss Pansy Prince's Fifth Grade class. We became friends forever! I joined her mother's Girl Scout Troop. We formed a secret club called the W.M.N.T. Club and the clubhouse was in my garage on Anita Road near the school. There were other members: Dee Williams, Susan Severn, Charlene Shattuck, and Jayne Wright, besides Gail and myself. We had orange crates for desks and we discussed important business - like where to explore next. We all went to Scout Camp at Lake Kirkwood in the high Sierras. It was a wonderful time.

Some of us continued on together at Burlingame High School. During the last 2-1/2 years of high school I lived with the Delaney family. Gail and I shared a bedroom, talked "Girl Talk" into the wee hours of the morning, studied for tests, and Gail, sometimes, smoked cigarettes in our closet. We went to all the dances, dressing up in sarongs, foo-foo net formals, and giggling about the evening after it was all over.

We had another close friend in high school, Aline De Boton. Aline was born in Paris, France and spoke French at home. Her mother was an artist and they lived in a big white house that held art classes. Aline's mother asked Gail to pose for one of the classes. The painting Gail's parents bought from the sittings was stunning. Gail was a beautiful young girl and woman. We loved to go to Aline's house and listen to them rattle on in French, eat soup and bread at the wooden table, and listen to Aline's father sing the French National Anthem.

We laughed a lot. We always did. We also drank tea a lot. Gail loved tea and tea parties. She also enjoyed going up Burlingame Avenue to a very small restaurant at the very end on the left run by one of her friends. He made everything in his microwave oven and electric frying pan... turning out very fancy cheese sandwiches, soups, and Tea of course! I have forgotten his name, but Gail thought he was so very special.

Gail was part of a marching band - the Los Trancos Woods Community Marching Band - that met in Palo Alto and participated in all the local parades. She played the "spoons and washboard" and I forget what else. She laughed about it and thought it great fun.

She also loved the ballet and liked to speak French. She studied both into her 40's. I don't think she ever went to France, but she did go to New Orleans and loved it. She had a favorite ballet teacher that was a good friend, and she would meet this man and his wife for parties in the 70's and tell me about them.

Gail used her good silver for everyday table settings and I am so very glad that she did. She loved pretty things-lace, nice blue and white china from Denmark and her best silverware. She adored quality things to eat as well, shopping much of the time at a small gourmet grocery on Burlingame Avenue. She would say, " You know the produce and chicken is so much better there." She was probably correct about that!

Gail was my Maid of Honor when I got married. She wore a pink dress and little veil hat and was thrilled to take part. She gave me a Julia Child Cookbook called the Art of French Cooking. To this day it is my favorite and I use it all the time.

Gail was a true and trusted friend, and she traveled to see me wherever we moved. She came up to Seattle when we lived there. She was so excited to go to Canada. We almost made it to Victoria, but after driving to Port Townsend, Washington to catch the ferry, we just missed it. Gavin, my son, was a baby and he traveled with us. As I recall, I had trouble getting everything in order to make it on time and it was a long drive. We happily spent the night in Port Townsend and looked around there.

Gail also came to see us in the desert when we lived in China Lake, CA, where my husband was in the Navy. Gail brought her daughter, Denise, to visit us in Coronado and we all enjoyed the beach as well as flying to Hawaii with her mother and daughter when we lived on Oahu. She stayed in our condo and they all had a good time. Family and close friends meant so much to Gail. She loved going up to her Aunt Edy's cabin at Snowshoe, often visiting her cousin, Jeanne, on the way. These were happy times for Gail.

Gail had the most lovely very dark brown hair.. almost black. Her eyes were violet blue and her beauty was radiant as a young girl as well as her hourglass figure. She loved to read and especially enjoyed poetry, English tales, and the book Frenchman's Creek. She liked to bake rich buttery cakes and cookies for her tea, savory stews and lamb chops and mashed potatoes. She was a true romantic and loved romantic movies.

Gail also adored cats and usually kept one or two around her house. She was very kind to animals and loved Beatrix Potter stories as a child and would even read them as an adult. The Tale of Tom Kitten was a favorite.

She lived for a time in San Francisco while working for several lawyers in the financial district. She had a charming studio apartment on Union Street. It was one with the curved window looking out over the street. She would sit and watch the people come and go. She would also go to the roof garden where she met others living in the building. I would visit her there. She also lived in San Rafael across the Golden Gate Bridge. The other place I remember her living was in the Sunset District of San Francisco. She lived there with Jim. He played in a band. They had a very nice flat, as I recall. Gail loved it.

Gail was close to her mother and father, Dorothy and Ned, and grandmother Bertha Whitlesey. Holidays were full of fun and laughter with Edy, Dottie's sister and her family joining in the festivities. Then there was Gail's Uncle Donald. She really got a charge out of him. He worked for a pharmaceutical company and his wife, Jeppie, was a pharmacist. He would store boxes of supplies in Gail's parent's garage and this would make Gail laugh and laugh.. Thinking about what was in those boxes. She would whisper to me what was in the garage. She had a wonderful quirky sense of humor and adored laughter and gaiety.

Gail was Irish in the grandest sense. She was a dark beauty, loved story telling, poetry, happy music, dance, and theater. Telling a tale was something Gail could do very well and she simply loved to retell a story. She was so good at this. She was also very proud of her artistic daughter. She would pin up Denise's artwork all over the house. Gail would simply say; " This is work by Denise."

Gail would always sign her name with a small g. It was her distinctive signature and she wrote letters to me a lot. This was before email and cell phone activity. Letters were important and Gail would write tidbits of news and to just say hello and keep in touch. She was loyal and very loving. One of the last times that I saw Gail in Burlingame she had walked from Victoria Road to my house in San Mateo Park on Warren Road. This was a long, long walk for Gail, but she did it to visit me. She was the dearest of friends and I will forever miss her.

(Posted with Dixie's permission).

Addendum

Born 10 June 2005, Victoria Tiffany, granddaughter of Gail Delaney.
Proud parents are Denise (Delaney) and Bill Barton of Half Moon Bay.
Photography by Mike Massee
http://www.pro-photography.net/
Used with permission
Photo was taken when Victoria was 10 days old

Victoria Tiffany, Age 4-1/2
(Probably a Christmas photo, Dec 2009)
Used with permission

First trip to the slopes
(Used with permission)