Gail Marie Whitaker

GAIL MARIE WHITAKER, BELOVED SISTER, AUNT, ATTORNEY AND ACTIVIST PASSED AWAY PEACEFULLY AT HER HOME IN MEDIA, PENNSYLVANIA DECEMBER 5, 2024.

SHE WAS 81 YEARS OLD AND FILLED EVERY ONE OF THOSE YEARS WITH PASSION AND UNWAVERING DETERMINATION TO MAKE THIS A BETTER WORLD.

HERS WAS A LIFE FULL OF COMPASSION AND CONTRADICTIONS. GAIL’S DOOR WAS ALWAYS OPEN, BUT HER FRONT DOOR MAT SAID, “GO AWAY.” SHE DIDN’T SUFFER FOOLS, YET LOVED DOING FOOLISH THINGS WITH HER NIECES AND NEPHEWS. WHEN HUGE BUZZARDS SPENT MONTHS IN A VACANT STRUCTURE NEXT DOOR, SHE WAS FILLED WITH AWE AT THE WONDER OF NATURE, ALL THE WHILE IN CONSTANT BATTLE WITH SQUIRRELS THAT ATE HER BIRDSEED AND GOPHERS THAT BURROWED THROUGH HER GARDEN. GAIL LOVED GARDENING, OPERA, “THE WIZARD OF OZ” AND HER YEARS AS A GIRL SCOUT. SHE LOVED CHRISTMAS, BOOTH’S CORNER, THE PHILLIES AND GARLIC (LOTS OF IT IN JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING SHE COOKED). BUT MORE THAN ANYTHING, SHE LOVED HER COMMUNITY AND HER COMMUNITY WAS VAST — IT STRETCHED FROM MEDIA TO OREGON AND BARBADOS, WHERE SHE SPENT MANY FEBRUARYS WITH FRIENDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD. GAIL COULD RUFFLE FEATHERS, SHE COULD BE OPINIONATED AND BLUNT, BUT THOSE WHO DIDN'T “GET” HER MISSED OUT ON HAVING THE MOST LOYAL FRIEND IMAGINABLE.

THE FIRST CHILD OF WILLIAM AND MARIE WHITAKER, GAIL WAS BORN AUGUST 23, 1943 AT DOUGLASS HOSPITAL, THE AFRICAN AMERICAN HOSPITAL IN PHILADELPHIA. ACTIVISM WAS HER BIRTHRIGHT. SHE WAS JUST A BABE IN HER MOTHER’S ARMS WHEN MARIE WAS DENIED SERVICE AT A RESTAURANT IN MEDIA, AN INCIDENT WITNESSED BY DOROTHY BIDDLE JAMES, A QUAKER AND BOROUGH RESIDENT. THE TWO WOMEN FORMED A FRIENDSHIP AND FOUNDED MEDIA FELLOWSHIP HOUSE, AN INSTITUTION NOW 80 YEARS OLD, DEDICATED TO SOCIAL JUSTICE.

GAIL WOULD LIVE HER LIFE FIGHTING INJUSTICE.

SHE WAS INSPIRED BY PRESIDENT JOHN F KENNEDY’S CALL FOR A GENERATION TO ASK WHAT IT COULD DO FOR THE COUNTRY. AFTER STUDYING AT PENN STATE AND MILLERSVILLE UNIVERSITIES, GAIL JOINED VISTA (VOLUNTEERS IN SERVICE TO AMERICA) AND WORKED IN UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES IN RURAL OREGON AND INNER-CITY HOUSTON. SHE REPRESENTED VISTA AS AN USHER AT THE FUNERAL OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. IN APRIL 1968, AND THAT SUMMER WAS ONE OF THE FEW BLACK TEXAS DELEGATES TO THE 1968 DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION IN CHICAGO.

GAIL’S EXPERIENCES IN VISTA LED HER TO THE LAW, “SO I COULD HELP PEOPLE,” SHE SAID. SHE EARNED HER LAW DEGREE (JD) FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON IN 1975 AND BECAME THE FIRST BLACK WOMAN TO OPEN A LAW PRACTICE IN DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, WHERE SHE SERVED FOR MORE THAT 40 YEARS.

GAIL WAS DEEPLY INVOLVED IN THE LEGAL COMMUNITY AND CIVIC LIFE OF MEDIA, THE COUNTY SEAT. AMONG MANY ROLES SHE SERVED AS PRESIDENT OF THE DELAWARE COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION, WHICH RECENTLY HONORED HER WITH THE FRANK HAZEL AWARD FOR HER YEARS OF SERVICE; SHE SAT ON HOSPITAL, WATER, MENTAL HEALTH AND HEALTH SERVICES BOARDS; SHE SERVED TWO TERMS AS A MEMBER AND VICE PRESIDENT OF THE MEDIA BOROUGH COUNCIL. WHEN NEWLY BUILT SHOPPING MALLS ON TWO SIDES OF TOWN THREATENED MEDIA’S ECONOMIC LIFE IN THE LATE 70’S, GAIL TOOK PRIDE IN BEING PART OF A GROUP OF YOUNG COUNCIL DEMOCRATS WHO FOUGHT TO REVIVE DOWNTOWN BUSINESSES, ATTRACT NEW ONES AND PRESERVE THE “EVERYBODY’S HOMETOWN” LOOK AND FEEL OF MEDIA.

GAIL’S FAVORITE BIBLE VERSE WAS 2 CORINTHIANS 9:7 – “GOD LOVETH A CHEERFUL GIVER.” UNTIL A FEW MONTHS BEFORE SHE DIED, THE 81-YEAR-OLD RETIRED ATTORNEY COULD BE SEEN DRIVING AROUND TOWN DELIVERING MEALS ON WHEELS TO ELDERLY RESIDENTS. SHE WAS A STALWART A WARRIOR FOR THE POOR, THE ILL, THE HUNGRY, AND IMPRISONED,

THIS YEAR GAIL FACED A VERY PERSONAL FINAL BATTLE. SHE TOOK ON LUNG CANCER WITH THE SAME CLEAR-EYED STRENGTH WITH WHICH SHE HAD MET ALL PREVIOUS ONES.  SHE FOUGHT UNTIL SHE COULD FIGHT NO MORE. GAIL SUCCUMBED TO THE DISEASE ONE WEEK AFTER THANKSGIVING WHEN ALL HER FAMILY AND MANY OF HER FRIENDS HAD GATHERED AROUND TO HUG HER, KISS HER, LAUGH, AND SHOW HER HOW MUCH SHE IS LOVED.

GAIL IS SURVIVED BY HER SISTER, ANITA WHITAKER JOHNSON; ANITA’S SONS MICHAEL JOHNSON AND HIS WIFE MADELINE AND THEIR DAUGHTERS SOFIA AND LOLA; ANDREW JOHNSON, HIS WIFE AMY, AND THEIR SON AUDEN; HER BROTHER, BILL WHITAKER AND HIS WIFE TERRY AND THEIR CHILDREN, WILLIAM T. WHITAKER III AND LESLEY WHITAKER. SHE ALSO IS SURVIVED BY NIECES CAROL DREW-PEEPLES, DONNA DREW SAWYER, PAULA DREW-FLEMMING AND COUSINS RAHKIAH EASON, ZAINAB ABDUL-ZAHIR AND HUDDA KNOTT AND LOVING FAMILY FRIEND DAN DEMARA. ALL CONCUR THERE COULD BE NO GREATER SIBLING, AUNT, COUSIN OR FRIEND.

A CELEBRATION OF GAIL’S LIFE WILL BE HELD AT THE MEDIA COMMUNITY CENTER, 301 N. JACKSON ST., MEDIA, PA 19063, WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 18TH. VISITATION STARTS AT 5:30PM, REFLECTIONS BEGIN AT 6:30PM.

IN LIEU OF FLOWERS, DONATIONS CAN BE MADE TO MEDIA FELLOWSHIP HOUSE,
302 S JACKSON ST., MEDIA, PA 19063 / mediafellowshiphouse.org

A SPECIAL THANKS TO RIGBY HARTING AND HAGAN FUNERAL HOME WHO CARRIED OUT GAIL’S WISH TO BE CREMATED; AND TO AN ESPECIALLY TRUE FRIEND, JOAN HAGAN.

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Rigby Harting & Hagan Funeral Home
(610) 566-3755
www.haganfuneralhome.com