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We had the pleasure today of hearing a Craft Talk from one of our long-time favorite members, Gail Smith. Gail’s husband, Curt began by introducing Gail by describing her physical appearance on the day they first met in a boring microbiology class at UCLA. In an attempt to embarrass his wife, Curt was totally inappropriate and graphic in ways which I cannot repeat here, albeit I remember that’s exactly how we talked about women in 1970. Curt must have had a flashback moment!!
Gail, not the least bit embarrassed by her husband told us she was a second-generation Italian American born in Buffalo, NY. She grew up with seven sisters. One day, her mother was told by her MD that she must leave the cold climate soon or would suffer from early on arthritis. They fortunately landed in West Hills, Ca. where at the time, sheep were grazing the land. With that “idyllic” childhood, she was off to UCLA to become a psychology major. Soon after, a young Curt Smith had his first sighting of her, and the rest is 51 years of marriage!!
Upon graduation Gail found work in a rehab clinic for knee-replacement patients. Business was booming because the operation was traumatic, with little to no improvement after two weeks. Gail had a gift for helping these patients, so she became of physical therapist working especially with “handicapped children”. This was during the early stages of invitro fertilization and there were greater numbers of premature babies who required ongoing PT. Later in her career, Gail helped in PT for patients of all ages and consulted for other therapists.
When Curt joined WVRC in 2008, Gail was involved in the Japanese student exchange and, drove Earth Angel trips until the pandemic happened. Gail & Curt have two sons, both hold permanent visitor status at the Incline Village Rotary near Reno and, Gail volunteers at the Tahoe Family Solutions Center, knits with the Guild and helps plant gardens in and around Incline Village.
It was a wonderful presentation, and we thank Gail for sharing her story with us.
Special thanks to PE Steve Day for leading the meeting, Jim Crane for leading the pledge, Aaron Donahue for his “Thought for the Day” talking about the successes of the YMCA and, finally once again to PE Steve Day for giving us “This Date in History”.
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