In Memoriam – Gail Fishman Gerwin

Gail Fishman Gerwin

May 7, 1939 – October 3, 2016

It is with a sense of profound personal loss that I share with you the sad news that Gail Fishman Gerwin, who wrote last week’s prompt for us, passed away on Monday, October 3^rd after months of treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Gail was one of my dearest friends.

Some of you will remember Gail from previous prompts and posts. She was a gifted poet who took special joy in sharing poetry with others, and she touched countless lives with her love and her words. 

Gail is survived by her husband of 48 years, Dr. Kenneth S. Gerwin; her daughter, Karen Gerwin, son-in-law, Michael Stoopack, and grandchildren Ben and Liv Stoopack; her daughter Kate Goldberg, son-in-law Dean Goldberg, and grandsons, Jordan and Brandon Goldberg; she is also survived by a sister, Carol Miller.

 (Gail & Ken Gerwin)  

(Gail & Ken's Daughters, Karen & Kate)

(Gail & Her Much-Loved Grandchildren: Jordan, Liv, Brandon, and Ben)

A native of Paterson, NJ, Gail received her bachelor's degree from Goucher College in 1961, where she was Phi Beta Kappa. She was an elementary school teacher in Ridgewood, NJ, and then took a job in the public relations department at NYU Medical Center. After raising her daughters, she worked in the public relations department at Sea Land and, in 1984, established her own freelance writing/editing firm, inedit (Morristown, NJ). Also a dog breeder, Gail spent many years devotedly breeding champion Cairn Terriers. She taught her first Cairn, Schepseleh Darling, to say "Mama," and Gail loved her Cairn Terriers so much that when she established her own poetry press, she used her kennel name and called the press ChayaCairn: www.chayacairnpress.com.

 (Above – Gail's Beloved Cairn Terrier Eliza Jane: December 31, 2002 – December 14, 2015
Below – Gail's GrandCairn, baby Zeke)

 

 

In addition to her beloved dogs, Gail had a deep and abiding respect for wildlife and the natural world: squirrels, bunnies, chipmunks, the goldfinches and hummingbirds that came to her feeders, the turkeys that paraded through her neighborhood, and even a vagrant pigeon who took up residence in her yard. Her delight in "all creatures great and small" was very much a part of who she was.

 

                                   (Gail and Eliza Jane at a Blessing of Pets, the Pigeon, 

                    Turkeys on Parade in Gail’s Neighborhood, and Goldfinches at Gail's Feeder)

Gail was a Renaissance woman of the highest order. In 1996, she earned her master's degree in creative writing from NYU, where she studied with Ann Hood and discovered an abiding love for writing poetry. Her first book (a poetry memoir), Sugar and Sand, was a 2010 Paterson Poetry Prize finalist; her second book, Dear Kinfolk, received a 2013 Paterson Award for Literary Excellence. Her poem “A State in Mind” was a third-prize winner in the 2015 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards. Her most recent book, Crowns, was published in 2016. Her poetry, book reviews, short fiction, essays, and plays have appeared in a wide range of print journals and anthologies, in online literary journals, and on stage. Among numerous other readings, Gail performed several times in the Carriage House Poetry Series, reading her own work and portraying both Sylvia Plath (November 2015) and Dorothy Parker (June 2013).

(Above & Below: Gail as Sylvia Plath in the Carriage House Production "A Legacy of Words.")

In addition to being a close personal friend, I had the privilege of working with Gail for Tiferet Journal, which she served for several years as associate poetry editor. She loved presenting workshops, giving readings, and sharing her love of poetry with audiences of students, seniors, and every age in between. She was generous and caring, always ready to think of others before herself; her intelligence and quick wit were graced by a wonderful laugh. More than anything else, she loved spending time with her family, often gifting family members with poems that she wrote especially for them.

In a LitBridge interview, Gail said of her poems, “I write. Others create visual art. Others share through conversation. It is crucial for me to record my story and to pass a legacy to the next generation and hopefully to reach a larger readership able to identify with my experiences, which are not unique but simply there in a different costume. Like many, I didn’t ask enough questions when my parents were alive and I regret it but I have found documents, letters, and many photos, and have used these to let my children and grandchildren know who I was and how I felt about this and how I feel about them. I began this process with my first book Sugar and Sand and continue to add narratives to their collection. I also wanted to provide a sharp sense of place and to project the warmth that memories allow.” (Source: http://www.litbridge.com/2013/03/13/gail-fishman-gerwin-next-big-thing-interview/)

Years ago, shortly after meeting Gail, I asked her how she became interested in poetry. Without hesitating for a second she said, “Because I want to leave my girls and my grandchildren something more than memories—I want them to have something of me to hold after I'm gone.” Gail did exactly that through her poems and her books.

 

By way of sharing, here are links to some of Gail’s poems.
(Click on each to read.)

From Your Daily Poem     

From Your Daily Poem

From Loch Raven Review

From IthacaLit

From Ragazine

From Verse-Virtual  

From Silver Birch Press 

From Shot Glass Journal

From Shot Glass Journal

From Tiferet Journal

From Jama's Alphabet Soup – Friday Feast

From Mothers Always Write

From The Light Ekphrastic

From The Persimmon Tree (a short story) 

From DEAR KINFOLK, A Selection of Poems

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May Gail rest in God’s peace. 
She is greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.

זיכרונה לברכה
zikhronah livrakha

May her memory be a blessing.   
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