Gayle Reading Chesness

"Reflections on our mother, Gayle Reading Chesness, by her children" We want to tell you a story about our mom's childhood. One of Gayle's earliest memories mimics scenes straight out of John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath. She remembered running through fruit orchards in Southern California, with warm, ripe plums squishing between her toes when she was two or three years old.  The memory stems from an unfortunate event where her mother abducted her from where she had been living with her father and siblings. For whatever reason, her mother then left Gayle with migrant relatives and Gayle was basically on her own. She was often bullied and bruised with no adults able to protect her or the other children present. At six years old, she was moved to foster care and experienced some stability in her life for the next six years. It wasn't until Gayle was in her mid-20s and after a fortuitous letter-writing campaign that she would be reunited with her father and siblings. She wrote to a clerk at an Oklahoma courthouse seeking her relatives but identifying herself by her married name. By chance, the clerk, who read the letter, was her brother's wife and immediately recognized her as her husband's lost sibling, "Baby Gayle." She married young, and had a son and three daughters.

Gayle's upbringing often forced her into an instinctive survival mode, which she used later in life to teach herself how to garden, raise farm animals, can, preserve, sew, bake, cook, and a myriad of other life skills. She became a single mom on a low income, yet she made sure we had food, clean clothing, and gifts on birthdays and Christmas.

She loved British humor ("The Windsors"), and light-hearted television ("Queer Eye" being a recent one), as well as detective shows on PBS and BBC. As a young woman, she learned to enjoy reading and became a vociferous reader the remainder of her whole life. Even though she lived most of her life in Northern Minnesota, her expansive reading shaped her understanding of the world.

In her last few years, Mom really enjoyed drawing pictures and sharing them with her family.  She drew scenes that included nature, vintage 40's and-50's women, babies, etc.  She would send pictures by text to her family to critique. For Christmas this year, she personalized Christmas envelopes for family members with her drawings based on what each person's interests. were.  Inside was a gift, because she was always very generous.

Mom and her friends at Majestic Pines, her living facility in Grand Rapids, would sometimes sing old cowboy or show tunes. She was grateful to the hospice music therapist and the whole team for bringing her joy and comfort in her last months.

In addition to her two surviving daughters, Marcelle Miles (Barry) of Falls Church, VA, and Julie Renollet (Nick) of Chisholm, MN, and son Cameron Ennis of Bullhead City, AZ, their children (Alexander, Griffith and Xavier Miles, and Calan Renollet (Hannah); her step-children, Paula (Rick) Gunderson, David (Kathleen), and Richard Chesness, and their children Krislyn (Paul), Steven (Hannah), Courtney (Brandon), Andrew, Aaron (Eleanor) and five great-grandchildren, whom she enjoyed having in her life. Her daughter Myra (Joseph) Daley, and grandsons C.J. and Arend Ennis, preceded her in death.

The family will hold a Celebration of Life at a date to be announced.