Gail Fleming Obituary, Death – Gail Fleming, who had been a member of the Board of Directors of the Phoenix Trolley Museum, passed away on February 25, 2023. Without her, the Board will not be the same. Gail actively participated in board meetings, First Fridays, clean-up days like this one on June 2, 2018, and so many other activities. Gail was someone on whom we could always rely.
Join us and a large number of other people on Friday, April 28, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. at Hansen Chapel, located at 8314 N. 7th St., Phoenix, Arizona 85020. We will be commemorating Gail’s life and legacy.
Gail Phillips died away on February 25, 2023, just a few short days after cheerfully celebrating her 85th birthday. She was born on February 23, 1938 in Phoenix, Arizona, and she passed away on February 25, 2023. Always beaming with energy and life she grew up in Phoenix at the family home on East Granada street near Whittier Elementary School where she attended. As a girl, she loved her friends, the activity and adventure of her neighborhood, playing at Coronado Park, but most of all she loved learning and excelled as a student.
After graduating early from North Phoenix High School in 1955, she attended the University of Arizona where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for women and received a B.S. in Business Administration in 1959. Gail was a member of Central Methodist Church when she met the man who would become the love of her life, Larry, during her time at college. The couple got married in 1960 at the church. Gail and Larry had been married 53 years when Larry passed in 2013. Despite the fact that Gail attended Arizona State University in Tempe for her graduate studies, she has always considered herself a Wildcat. In 1969, she earned a Master of Arts degree in Early Childhood Education from Arizona State University.
In 1981 she was awarded the Delta Kappa Gamma State Scholarship and received her Ed.D. in Elementary Education later that year. Dr. Gail Fleming took education very seriously, and her drive and enthusiasm were through the roof. Her first job in the field of education was in elementary school, and she absolutely cherished that position. She taught in the Creighton Elementary School District from 1961 until 1965, then she taught in the Madison Elementary School District at Madison Heights from 1969 until 1988. She cherished every one of her students, remembering each one by name throughout her life. Beginning in 1987 and periodically throughout her career, she served on the adjunct faculty at ASU teaching in the areas of child development and early childhood education.