Page 72 - Life Legacy Project

Experience
Gail Lafleur age 66
The person I would like to honor is my grandma Gail Lafleur. The reason I am honoring her is because she has done so
much in her life and experienced a lot. Gail is so nice to everyone and cares so much. Gail has a sense of humor, she will always find a way to make people laugh, and cares a lot about her family and friends. “Way to go! You got this!” is the quote that inspires her the most, she believes that this can boost everyone’s confidence like it did hers. Gail says “Follow your dreams while you can because one day you won’t get that chance.” My grandma’s favorite and cherished tradition is when everybody sings happy birthday at different times, off key, and then halfway through somebody sings an entirely different song.
Gail was born April 15, 1951 in Vancouver WA. Gail’s earliest memory believe it or not was when she was 6 months old. Her mother put her down on a wooden floor, it was cold and smelly. The mom started to walk around as she crawled after her, her mom then picked up a black telephone and made a call. Gail as a child was very bossy to her sister, and she liked to climb trees and swim. Gail learned to swim at a very young age, she was too young to take regular life saving classes so she had to take junior classes. One time when there was a Wild Waves being built across the road from her she would take her friend and ride horses through the gravel road that they were building on, because of that they put up a sign saying “no horses”.
As an adult her dream was to go to college and become an Architect. Instead she left college and started a family. She has had many jobs but her favorite was Designing Landscapes with her friend who needed an employee. Something that she remembers her daughter Carmine (my mom) doing when she was little was taking Crane flies and ripping off their wings. Gail would ask what she’s doing Carmine would say that she was making the Crane fly into a Daddy Long Leg. To her the best part of being a parent was becoming a grandparent. When she was in college Gail had always felt inferior. When the teacher had assigned a writing assignment, the teacher used her work as an example. Later her teacher talked to her and said, “You got this Gail, you should help everybody else.” That really boosted her confidence as a student.
A normal day for Gail is to wake up, get coffee, go on her computer for a little bit, go to work, come back afterwards and pet the dog, then hope her grandchildren will talk to her. Her goal in her life right now is to be able to travel to a different continent. On a daily basis Gail thinks about her retirement, money, and her husband who has recently passed away. Gail’s piece of advice is to never get waisted, “ that’s a good word for that because you are literally wasting your life when you drink”. Everyday Gail hears the dog howling, airplanes, and her cat meowing. In the world she sees everyone going to drugs and bad decisions, she hopes that will change in the future. When I asked her what her one wish for the World would be she replied with, “For Trump to die, haha just kidding, for people help other people”. She told me to stay in school and take advantage of it, accomplish your dreams while you still can.
Gail has benefited my life a lot, the reason for that is because she has been there for me, whenever I needed someone to talk to, she was there. What I admire most about Gail is that no matter what she is feeling or going through she will be there for her family and will provide all she can for us, she will fake a smile to make you happy. I learned that my grandma was a very talented person growing up and still is. You need to make sure you are always making the right choices, do nothing you’ll regret in the future.
Isabel Banta
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