Gail L. Lerch

An Ode to "A Yes Woman."

This prose is for our mother, the biggest yes person we know.

She was born in Providence RI, May 27, 1932, second daughter of Elizabeth Ostby Lawrence and Arthur L. Lawrence. She is pre-deceased by her premed and her older sister, Nancy Lawrence Clark.

Almost from the minute she was born, she was a Yes girl. “Yes I will follow sista Nancy to Northfield - Mt Hermon school.” And “Yes I will attend Skidmore. Yes! I will get a nursing degree from Skidmore college (just like Nancy did.)”

In 1953 while a student nurse in New York, she said Yes! to being a bridesmaid on LI.

There she was smitten by a young Webb man, David William “Bill” Lerch, III.

She definitely said Yes! to him!

Some time later, 1955, they were married, another Yes! under her skirt, oops I mean belt!

He said “Honey, you know I love boats. Let’s have our honeymoon on LI Sound." Now the LI Sound of 75 years ago was very different. Then you could have submarines come up close to you. And Yes! they got spied upon by a periscope from a Uboat as they were messing around on the deck!

In 1956 a baby girl, Nancy Summer Lerch was born and always the Yes! woman, Gail said “Honey, I will move across country with you, to a place I know no one, with a 6 wk old infant in my arms, in a car we don’t yet own and on a brand new highway system. Yes I will go there so you can look out to see mountains across salt water. Yes let’s make your (now my) dream come true.”

Then two more kids, John William Lerch, in 1957, Bellingham WA, and David William “Billy” Lerch, IV, in 1961 Seattle, WA arrived.

Then Gail said another Yes! I want to sail with you Bill! And in 1962 Gail and Bill together then became the first ever husband and wife team to be crowned champions of the International 14 series of small dinghy racing boats. That was a feat!

A couple of years later Bill said “I got a great opportunity - I want us to move to northern Chile!” And Gail said, you guessed it - Yes! Not knowing Spanish and certainly not knowing anyone, with three kids this time, 8, 7 & 3, she moved all to Iquique, Chile where it rained once in 2 yrs (can you image after rainy Seattle? This is what happens when you say Yes!)

After two glorious years in Chile with Yes! to adventures like living on the beach in tents for an entire summer and trekking to see dinosaur tracks in the sun and sand; followed by a Yes! to two months traveling through Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, they landed back in Seattle.

Bill said, "I would really like to look over Puget Sound and see those Olympics. I want to make a new life here for my children and my family. " Gail then said Yes! to everything the northwest could offer. A beautiful home with a 200 degree view of the Olympic Mtns, a host of new friends, new schools for the kids, new fish to cook, new flowers to grow, a new life to settle into. She said yes raising teenagers, to dinner parties; to Boy Scout white water rafting adventures; and to owning a powerboat.

And she said Yes! to traveling every other year to her beloved Adirondack Camp and being with her sister, Nancy, so all the cousins could be together and fall in love with the land too.

A few years later she discovered a melanoma on her left leg. She once again said Yes! to life! “I am not going to let this take me away.” She changed her diet, exercise and daily habits to fight the cancer. And she bested it.

She said Yes! I want to learn to ski!  This led to many adventures with John and Bill and family in Utah and friends all over the West. She especially loved her ski bus friends and the Thursday social event that was!

She said Yes! to her letting her first born and only daughter leave high school early for Alaska. And then few years later said Yes! to doing the Landmark Forum when her daughter asked her to. That started a whole new chapter of love and intimacy with her family and friends.

Then Bill said, "Honey we’ve got this great boat and these wonderful friends, let’s motor up to Alaska next summer, starting in May and live off the boat, land, water and seas. Time to create our own adventures." And Gail said...what I can’t hear you!...😉 Yes! to 10 years of summer time travel to AK. They were glorious years filled with life, and food, and wine, and fish, and adventure.

Her Yes! led to 57 years of marriage, healthy and warm and filled with unimaginable love - all given by her Yes! to life. When her beloved husband Bill died in 2012, she mourned and then said Yes! again and had a wonderful 3 years of travel and adventure with Mr. Bob Allen, a dear family friend.

Her final years were spent with her family, first with John and Jeri in their beautiful home, in Marysville WA, and the last 10 months with Summer in Cromwell CT. She passed away on April 23, 2019, just shy of 87.

Gail was a Yes! to life - always having open arms for a loved one, or flowers for church, or a meal for someone in need, or kind words for a stranger. She was a yes to life and loved it that way!!! That is her legacy. We are proud to have had Gail Lawrence Lerch as our mother, friend and lover of life. She lived a long, good Yes! - hey may we all be so lucky.❤️