Georgiana Gamble Smithers
Published: Tuesday, November 03, 2009
A celebration of life will be held for Georgiana Gamble Smithers, 81, of Coos Bay, at 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, Nov. 4, at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Fourth and Highland in Coos Bay. The service and sacrament will be officiated by the Rev. Stephen Tyson and Georgiana’s granddaughter, the Rev. Rebecca Kirkpatrick. Cremation rites were held at Ocean View Memory Gardens Crematory in Coos Bay.
The beloved Georgiana was born Nov. 18, 1927, in Juneau, Alaska. She died of natural causes Oct. 29, 2009, in Coos Bay.
Her father was a career U.S. Army officer stationed at “Chil-k-oot” Barracks when she was born. Chilkoot was without medical facilities, so her mother was ferried to Juneau for the birth by a U.S. Coast Guard admiral stationed nearby — Georgiana’s grandfather, Aaron Gamble. As a child and young adult, Georgiana and her family lived in many places, including Fort Warren, Wyo., El Morro, Puerto Rico, Annapolis and Fort Meade, Md., Staten Island, N.Y., Balboa (Canal Zone), Panama, and Berkeley, Calif. For brevity when asked, she said she was from El Paso, Texas. As a young girl, she was taught to fish by General Omar Bradley, and, with her sisters “Dossie” and Savilla, played some inadvertent pranks on General George Patton. She and her family attended Franklin Roosevelt’s second inauguration from box seats next to the president. Her education included participation in world events, Spanish-speaking Catholic schools, public schools and home schooling through the Calvert Course.
She was a “cradle Episcopalian,” confirmed at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. She graduated from University High School in Berkeley, Calif., at age 16 and attended the University of California, Berkeley for two years. She was invited to serve as a page at the United Nations Charter Conference in San Francisco in 1945.
In 1947, she married James Neilson Jr., and moved to the family farm in rural Sacramento Valley, Calif., where she raised five children. Her passion for education, the arts, international and cross-cultural appreciation caused her to run for the local school board and to haul her brood on several weekly 30-mile trips “into town” for ballet, piano classes and St. Luke’s Episcopal Sunday School. She loved reading stories and poetry to her children, and made sure they visited art museums, attended plays and listened to a wide range of music.
In 1963, the family moved to Yellow Springs, Ohio, where Georgiana worked in a medical practice, bringing order to the filing room and her healing love and kindness to the patients. The family returned to the West Coast in 1968.
In 1980, she married Tom Smithers, with whom she shared a joyful love of sailing and exploring the countryside. Together they lived on a houseboat in Sacramento, Calif., then moved to Coos Bay in 1990. Her life was not without struggles and sorrows, yet she always sought and found the sunshine. She was actively involved in the lives of all her grandchildren, especially Laura’s sons, Cody and Jesse, who call Grandma’s house their home.
One of her nephews writes, “She was one of the kindest and most gentle souls I have ever known. She also had a core of strength and cheerfulness that is a reminder to me of the strength that we all possess.” Her children could not have said it better. Georgiana Gamble Smithers will live always in their hearts, and in the heart’s of their children and their children’s children.
Georgie is survived by two sisters, Dorothy “Dossie” DuBose of Boulder, Colo., and Savilla Eisner of Nosara, Costa Rica; five children, Laura Neilson of Coos Bay, Georgiana and John Knezovich and Heather and Bruce Westlund, all of Fort Collins, Colo., Bruce and Sheri Neilson of San Diego, Calif., and Ian Neilson of Napa, Calif.; and 10 grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Tom Smithers; and her parents, Col. Andrew Suter Gamble and Dorothy Collier Gamble.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the Women’s Safety and Resource Center, 1681 Newmark Ave., Coos Bay, OR 97420.
Arrangements are under the direction of Coos Bay Chapel, 267-3131.
The beloved Georgiana was born Nov. 18, 1927, in Juneau, Alaska. She died of natural causes Oct. 29, 2009, in Coos Bay.
Her father was a career U.S. Army officer stationed at “Chil-k-oot” Barracks when she was born. Chilkoot was without medical facilities, so her mother was ferried to Juneau for the birth by a U.S. Coast Guard admiral stationed nearby — Georgiana’s grandfather, Aaron Gamble. As a child and young adult, Georgiana and her family lived in many places, including Fort Warren, Wyo., El Morro, Puerto Rico, Annapolis and Fort Meade, Md., Staten Island, N.Y., Balboa (Canal Zone), Panama, and Berkeley, Calif. For brevity when asked, she said she was from El Paso, Texas. As a young girl, she was taught to fish by General Omar Bradley, and, with her sisters “Dossie” and Savilla, played some inadvertent pranks on General George Patton. She and her family attended Franklin Roosevelt’s second inauguration from box seats next to the president. Her education included participation in world events, Spanish-speaking Catholic schools, public schools and home schooling through the Calvert Course.
She was a “cradle Episcopalian,” confirmed at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. She graduated from University High School in Berkeley, Calif., at age 16 and attended the University of California, Berkeley for two years. She was invited to serve as a page at the United Nations Charter Conference in San Francisco in 1945.
In 1947, she married James Neilson Jr., and moved to the family farm in rural Sacramento Valley, Calif., where she raised five children. Her passion for education, the arts, international and cross-cultural appreciation caused her to run for the local school board and to haul her brood on several weekly 30-mile trips “into town” for ballet, piano classes and St. Luke’s Episcopal Sunday School. She loved reading stories and poetry to her children, and made sure they visited art museums, attended plays and listened to a wide range of music.
In 1963, the family moved to Yellow Springs, Ohio, where Georgiana worked in a medical practice, bringing order to the filing room and her healing love and kindness to the patients. The family returned to the West Coast in 1968.
In 1980, she married Tom Smithers, with whom she shared a joyful love of sailing and exploring the countryside. Together they lived on a houseboat in Sacramento, Calif., then moved to Coos Bay in 1990. Her life was not without struggles and sorrows, yet she always sought and found the sunshine. She was actively involved in the lives of all her grandchildren, especially Laura’s sons, Cody and Jesse, who call Grandma’s house their home.
One of her nephews writes, “She was one of the kindest and most gentle souls I have ever known. She also had a core of strength and cheerfulness that is a reminder to me of the strength that we all possess.” Her children could not have said it better. Georgiana Gamble Smithers will live always in their hearts, and in the heart’s of their children and their children’s children.
Georgie is survived by two sisters, Dorothy “Dossie” DuBose of Boulder, Colo., and Savilla Eisner of Nosara, Costa Rica; five children, Laura Neilson of Coos Bay, Georgiana and John Knezovich and Heather and Bruce Westlund, all of Fort Collins, Colo., Bruce and Sheri Neilson of San Diego, Calif., and Ian Neilson of Napa, Calif.; and 10 grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Tom Smithers; and her parents, Col. Andrew Suter Gamble and Dorothy Collier Gamble.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the Women’s Safety and Resource Center, 1681 Newmark Ave., Coos Bay, OR 97420.
Arrangements are under the direction of Coos Bay Chapel, 267-3131.
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