Gail Elizabeth Tancrell

WOONSOCKET - Gail E. (Bootland) Tancrell, 71, of Woonsocket, died November 30, 2023 in Rhode Island Hospital. Born in Woonsocket, she was the daughter of the late George and Stella (Czarny) Bootland.

Gail was cremated along with her remaining crafts and knick-knacks with the hundreds of Bic lighters she left behind. Next fall, arts and craft fairs around New England will open with a moment of silence and Autumn Fest flags will remain at half-staff at next years festivities in memory of Gail, who was a 50+ year client of the craft circuit. She left behind the world's largest collection of crafts and knick-knacks that unfortunately could not be certified by Guiness before her cremation.

Gail was never an early adopter of anything. Especially smartphones, email, or the internet. She always preferred faux wooden boxed tubed televisions with inferior standard broadcast picture quality over the modern high definition televisions that could show every blade of grass in great detail. We suspect this preference was due to having more display space for her seasonal knick-knacks. She never drove in the snow or really under any weather condition good or bad. Legend has it that she once put 90,000 miles on a car in 27 years; the same pace as the most dedicated dog walkers. In spite of her passing, her car's annual mileage will remain relatively unaffected. To carry out with her dying wishes, her kids will keep up her over obsessive need to have her car greased, oil and filter changed despite it moving only a few feet a week.

Financial institutions around the world are expected to increase fees to compensate for lost revenue created by the loss of her half century long purchasing of cashier checks and countless money orders. Local banks, will without hesitation, discard their old passbook printers as Gail was the last client in 20 years to use this antiquated technology.

She leaves her sons, Gregory Tancrell and his wife, Deborah, of Galena, IL, and Timothy Tancrell and his partner, Paul Scalabroni, of North Providence; her brother, Glenn Bootland, of Strafford, NH; her sister, Nancy Calascibetta, of Virginia Beach, VA; two grandsons, Gabriel and Ian Tancrell; and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her brother, Scott Bootland.

Her funeral will be held on December 29th with a service at 10 am in Slatersville Congregational Church, On the Common, Slatersville. Calling hours are December 28th from 4-7pm in the Holt Funeral Home, 510 South Main St., Woonsocket. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Northern Rhode-Island Food Pantry.