Gail Morris

As one of the most compassionate, caring, considerate, and kind persons we have all known, it was certainly out of character for Gail to die on us.

Most of us do not get to decide the how and when, but if it could have been scripted for Gail, it couldn’t have been better.

Gail and John spent an evening with good friends and later had a typically long phone call with one of her many dear friends. Gail then kissed John, the love of her life, good night and retired to her hot tub to look at the stars and be happy with her place in the universe when she suffered a sudden heart attack. It seems that 73 years of giving her heart and love to others was all it was able to take.

There will be a visitation at Hauser Funeral Home on Wednesday, March 9, 2016 from 3-6 p.m., followed by an informal ceilidh at the Elks. There may be some music and there may be some whisky (and maybe a glass of chardon-B). The Rev. Gary Mayer will celebrate a funeral Mass at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church on Thursday, March 10, at 10:30 a.m. (a Mass that Gail would shoot for, but then settle on the noon mass because of her children dragging their feet). A burial will follow at 3 p.m. at Wexford Cemetery south of Lansing, ending her wonderful journey where it began.

Born up the river in LaCrosse, Wis. in 1942, Gail grew up in Lansing, with her parents George and Margaret Anderson, doting on her grandmother Elizabeth Fitzgerald and loving and bickering with John Henry, Mary, Susan and Kathleen in ways that only siblings know.

While in nursing school, Gail ended up on a date with a young John Morris and embarked on an adventure that gave them children Liz, Sam and Meg and touching an untold number of people around the world. As an RN, Gail brought many people into the world, and tragically laid her daughter to rest. Even through the unimaginable pain of losing a child, Gail continued to bring light and love to people all over the world, to those that needed it and to those that didn’t (because you can never have too much).

One measure of a success is if you leave the world a better place than when you entered. In that way, and so many others, she was a resounding success.

And one thing is certain, she never met a stranger.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests memorial contributions be made to Immaculate Conception-Wexford in Lansing, Iowa, and/or Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Charles City.

Hauser Funeral Home, 641-228-2323, in Charles City, is in charge of arrangements.

Online condolences may be left for the family at www.

hauserfh.com.

Morris