Photo courtesy of Smits-Steger Memorial Chapel - Steger
Dec 8, 1950 - Jun 19, 2025
Gail and I have been friends for over 25 years. We shared many exciting adventures together, as well as simple breakfasts, lunches and ice cream cones. Everyday I realize how much I miss her and what a good friend she was. I will continue to seize the days as she always did. Carpe diem.
Lynne Speaker
July 10, 2025 | Crete, IL | Friend
Gail and I have been friends since we both taught in the Coachella Valley in the 1970s. We’ve traveled together and kept in contact over the years. I will miss her tremendously.
Judy Duffield-Smith
June 27, 2025 | Santee, CA | Friend
I can’t believe you’re gone!!! You fought the good fight. I m very saddened to hear this for I pray everyday for you. RIH Gail. I miss you
Carey Murray
June 26, 2025 | OAK FOREST, IL | Friend
To Gail's Family, please accept my sincere sympathy. Although her presence is no longer with us, her impact as an educator, friend and leader will continue well into the future. It was a privilege as the former Superintendent of Cook County School District 130 to have worked with Gail.
Dr. Michael Korsak
June 21, 2025 | ORLAND PARK, IL | Coworker
Gail Louise Sessler, age 74, of Lincolnwood, Illinois, formerly of Flossmoor, Illinois, passed away peacefully Thursday, June 19, 2025. Gail was born on December 8th, 1950 in Janesville, Wisconsin, to her parents Jacob and Elaine Sessler. Gail attended Parker High School in Janesville, Wisconsin. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. Later, she received her master’s degree in Bilingual Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is predeceased by her parents, Jacob and Elaine Sessler; her sisters, Donna Hirth and Wendy Sessler; and her brother-in-law, Michael Hirth. She is survived by her aunt, Janice Beaubien of Rolling Meadows, Illinois; many cousins, and many friends. She also has an Ecuadorian AFS sister and her second family, the Morshida family from Japan. In 1974, Gail entered the Peace Corps and was assigned to the city of Pasto, Colombia for two years. Those were the best two years of her life. She spent seven years teaching in the Coachella Valley, California, and then returned to the Midwest. She worked for twenty four years in school district 130 in Blue Island, Illinois. During that time she taught first grade and fourth grade. She spent sixteen years working in reading recovery. The first six years, she taught students, and in the last ten years she was a teacher leader. Gail liked to go golfing, play Mahjong, and go to the movies. Gail traveled to many countries of the world. Some of her favorite trips were a month living with a host family in Japan, a trip to Kenya and Tanzania for her sixtieth birthday, and a trip to Egypt, just to name a few. She went not once, but twice to the Galápagos Islands. Her friends would describe Gail as always happy and go lucky. Enjoying a burger at Culver’s was one of her greatest delights. She will be surely missed by everyone.Arrangements entrusted to Smits – Steger Memorial Chapel, 3045 Chicago Rd. Steger, IL, 60475. For further information, please call 708-755-6100 or visit our online guestbook and obituary at www.SMITSFH.com.
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