Sister to four, mother to three, grandmother to two, friend and healer to countless. Gail Hart was born in Amesbury, Massachusetts to parents Gloria and Edward. To suggest Gail had the patience of a saint is an understatement. She devoted her life to the wellbeing of others, beginning as a kindergarten teacher after graduating from the University of Southern Maine in 1974. She was a devoted caretaker of her son Jaremy Parks Lynch until the end of her life, navigating innumerable appointments, procedures, and surgeries. She raised her two younger sons, Andrew and Patrick Lynch, with a selflessness to have them believe neither she nor Jaremy knew any hardship in life, and that she always had more to give as a parent. Gail watched with pride as her three sons graduated from college/graduate school and began their lives.
Gail became a holistic health practitioner with Turquoise Healing Arts, specializing in Reiki, Reflexology, and Shamanic Healing and later with Willow Heart Healing Arts Center in Harpswell, Maine. While she lived in an old farmhouse on Allen Point Road by the Maine coast tending to her countless farm animals, she began to volunteer as an EMT for Harpswell Neck Fire and Rescue. Gail was often the only EMT available and responded to almost every call the town received. In 2013, she was asked to serve as the Rescue Chief of Harpswell. In 2015 she was honored as the Harpswell EMT of the Year and was cited by the Maine Governor as Volunteer of the Year. While stationed in Harpswell, Gail unfailingly devoted herself to both her immediate and extended family as well as countless community programs, including the Santa Fund for the underserved members of the community. Gail was recently honored with the 2019 Real Hero Award from the American Red Cross of Maine.
More recently, Gail had moved to Brownfield Maine to be closer to her beloved mountains as she approached a new decade of life at seventy. There she served as the President of the Brownfield Public Library Board of Trustees, and together with her son Jaremy helped to create a “pollinator garden” next to the library to be populated by native plants. She continued to volunteer with the local hospice, providing palliative care for patients in hospitals, hospice facilities and countless homes. She described her decades as a hospice volunteer as the “most intense and perfect work” of her life.
Gail took her last breath on October 6, 2022 in hospice care after a sudden illness with family by her side. While her early death is still a shock to many who observed her healthy habits over the years, it should be remembered that she always found meaning in the senseless, solace in tragedy, and with her ever steady hands helped others exit this life with dignity and grace. As one of her favorite authors observed: “from where we stand the rain seems random. If we could stand somewhere else, we would see the order in it.”
Gail leaves her three sons: Jaremy Lynch of Brownfield, ME, Andrew Lynch and wife Erika Wilkinson of Boston, MA, and Patrick Lynch and wife Marie Lynch of Los Angeles, CA. “Gamma Gail” will be remembered by her two beloved grandsons, Darby and Elliot Lynch of Boston. Gail is also survived by her siblings Linda Reifke of Silver Lake, NH, Edward Hart Jr. and wife Julie Hart of Kingston, NH, Jim Hart of Kingston, NH, and Susan Miner of West Warwick, RI. In addition to her sons, daughters in law, grandsons and siblings, Gail is remembered by cousins, nieces, nephews and countless friends in Amesbury, Easton, Harpswell, and Brownfield.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the following organizations: Harpswell Neck Fire and Rescue, PO Box 8, Harpswell, ME 04079 (https://harpswellneckfireandrescue.org). A special appreciation is extended for their service in making sure Gail made it to hospice care in time. Donations can also be made to the Brownfield Public Library, 216 Main Street, Brownfield, ME 04010. The garden Gail and Jaremy recently helped create will be dedicated to her.
A Celebration of Life is planned; please visit https://www.punchbowl.com/parties/94cda7f27cc3d8dafb26 to rsvp.
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