Penny Susan Waite

Penny Susan (Gilmour) Waite passed away on May 28, 2021 at Fairfax Inova Hospital of Acute Respiratory Failure after a courageous battle against Bulbar Onset Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). She was born on January 27, 1949, in Buffalo, NY, to Archie and Eileen (Arnold) Gilmour. She is survived by her loving husband, Mike, of Annandale, VA, stepson Parker Waite, Kansas City, MO, stepdaughter Ashley (Matt) Ruzich, granddaughter Sofie Ruzich, all of Hendersonville, NC, sister Bonnie (David) Foster, San Diego, CA, uncle James Arnold, Fairfax, VA and many cousins across the country. Penny leaves a lifetime of friends from San Diego to the East Coast who are all heartbroken at her passing.

She loved spending time with her granddaughter who called her Gram and sharing great “adventures” with her, including trail rides, game nights and pillow fights on hotel beds. Her focus was always on being the best stepmom for Parker, Ashley and son-in-law Matt. She loved to entertain friends with wonderful dinner parties, hosting brunch on her patio before the California State Society summer picnic, Shakespeare plays, disco dancing and playing crazy games with the kids.

When she was seven, her family moved from Buffalo to San Diego, CA. She graduated from Point Loma High School in 1967 where she was an honors student. She started her working career at 18 and never looked back. Her professional career spanned a wide range of challenging jobs which included commercial real estate broker, Assistant Vice President of Union Bank in San Diego, and attaining her stock broker’s license in the early 1980s. Penny continued her very successful stock brokerage career working for E.F. Hutton and First Wall Street Corporation in La Jolla, CA. Throughout her life, Penny continued her passion for the stock market being a knowledgeable, conservative investor. She did comprehensive research and market analysis, implementing complicated puts, calls and trades in the morning which we would see being discussed later in the day on CNBC.

In 1989, ready for more life adventures, she joined the friendly skies becoming a flight attendant for United Airlines. She loved working for United and being in the skies with her colleagues, traveling around the world. During her time at United, she found time to earn two associate degrees. Due to an in-flight injury, she was forced to retire early from flying. After retiring from UAL, Penny went back to earn the one goal she was missing in life: her college degree. She graduated from George Mason University as a history major where she was awarded the Evelyn Pugh Outstanding Undergraduate Woman of the Year in the Department of History in 2009 at sixty years of age

On September 25, 1999, she and the love of her life, Mike, were united in marriage in Taos, NM.

From that point on, they were inseparable and dedicated to each other for life. They enjoyed traveling, visiting dozens of countries, seeing family and friends and cruising the world… just being with each other.

Her love of history and research led her to become a docent and museum supervisor at the Historic John Carlyle House in Alexandria, VA for eleven years where she made so many friends, enjoying a wide range of discussions with her docent pals Suzanne, Shelly, Jane, Chuck, Bob, Pat, and Penny II. One of her biggest joys was giving a tour to her family of the Carlyle House and having her granddaughter attend summer camp there. She was loved by everyone there and worked until this past February before her illness forced her to retire.

Penny was a woman of grace and dignity, always ready to help a friend with a hand up or advice but never compromising her standards. She was courageous to the end and will truly be missed by everyone who had the pleasure of knowing her.