Rebecca Lanier Douglass Gimelli

Rebecca Lanier Douglass Gimelli passed away on March 21st, 2023, in Seattle surrounded in love by her daughters and brother.

Becky was born August 6th, 1945, in New York City to urban planner and architect Lathrop Smith Douglass and Dorothy Howe Douglass. In 1954, the Douglass Family, which had grown to include Becky's beloved younger brother Lathrop, moved to Greenwich, Connecticut. Becky attended Greenwich Country Day School followed by the Madeira School in McLean, Virginia, making many lifelong friends along the way. While she loved sports, especially field hockey and softball, her passions were art, travel, music, and history. These pursuits led her to major in Art History at Wheaton College in Massachusetts.

Always seeking new intellectual and cultural adventures, Becky studied Italian in Perugia and initiated a post graduate art history program for her alma mater in Florence. Upon returning to the US, Becky continued her pursuit of the arts, working briefly at the New York Film Festival and studying graphic design before marrying and moving to Argentina. For the better part of a decade, Becky lived and studied in Argentina, eventually marrying again, to artist Juan Gimelli. They had their first child, Noa, in Buenos Aires before moving back to the US, settling in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, enabling Becky to be closer to nature-a love of which she inherited from her father.

Inspired by psychoanalysis in Buenos Aires and the benefits she experienced from it, Becky went back to school for her Master's degree in psychology after the birth of her second child, Terra. In 1986, she left her thriving private practice and moved with her family to Seattle, Washington, joining her brother once again. For nearly 40 years, Becky worked as a psychotherapist, touching the lives of hundreds of individuals, finally retiring in 2022. Always a seeker of truth and enlightenment, Becky endeavored to improve the human experience of those she counseled. She believed that diversity of ideas, experiences and backgrounds improves our existence in so many ways.

Above all else, Becky was a loyal and loving mother, grandmother, sister, and friend to many. With an ever strong commitment to family, she instilled the importance of education, human connection and joy in her daughters and grandchildren and showed them how life is enriched by relationships and travel. Her curiosity was infectious, and her love of learning, culture, music, and people was palpable. Until her very last days, she was reading the arts section of the newspaper, circling the many cultural events she hoped to attend. She is survived by her brother, Lathrop Douglass (Frances) and her daughters Noa Gimelli (Headley), Terra Gimelli (Sebastien) and four grandchildren Aleko, Ana Luz, Paloma and Elio.

A celebration of life will be scheduled for late summer and details will be provided at a later date. Becky's family would very much welcome any stories or photographs that family and friends are willing to offer-please share in the comment section or directly with the family.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Becky's honor to Sound Generations (www.soundgenerations.org), a Seattle-based non-profit.