Gayle O'Dowd
January 14, 1933 — January 20, 2015
Gayle Pardee O'Dowd entered eternal rest on January 20, 2015. Gayle was born on January 14, 1933 in Kansas City, Missouri to her parents William Marshall and Helen Stevens Pardee. She was an only child. Gayle graduated from Southwest High School in Kansas City, Missouri and later Monticello College. While visiting at home from college in Kansas City, Gayle went on a date arranged by her friend Patsy O'Dowd with Patsy's brother, Lt. John O'Dowd. John and Gayle were married at Visitation Church in Kansas City on July 3, 1953. She made her first home as an Air Force wife in Topeka, Kansas where John was stationed at Forbes Field. The couple traveled abroad and at home through numerous assignments. Gayle was a devoted military wife and mother. She managed home responsibilities including packing and moving and unpacking and setting up a household often on her own while her husband was fulfilling his military responsibilities. Gayle was remembered to have remarked that she had lived in twenty one different houses in twenty years of marriage. She often found herself in the role of single parent to their three children as her husband would be stationed or deployed to other locations. She served as president of the Officers Wives Club at Carswell Air Force Base while her husband was serving a tour of duty in Vietnam. The couple moved to Universal City, Texas when John retired from the Air Force. She was delighted that her three children also settled in the area and she could be closely involved with her six grandchildren and their activities. The grandchildren nicknamed her Mimi and soon friends and family followed suit so that she became known to them also as Mimi. Her husband of 57 years, John, preceded her in death. Gayle is survived by their three children: John Marshall O'Dowd and wife, Joanna; Dana O'Dowd Sommers and husband, Bill; Brian O'Dowd; and six grandchildren, Malcom O'Dowd, Shannon O'Dowd, Grant Sommers and wife, Mo; Tricia O'Dowd, John O'Dowd and wife, Nickki; Claire Schmidt and husband, Wes; and four great grandsons, Jacob Potter, Aiden O'Dowd, Easton O'Dowd, and Garrett Sommers. Our beloved Mimi will be dearly missed. Funeral services will be held on Monday, February 2, 2015 at 2:00PM at St. David's Church, 1300 Wiltshire, San Antonio, Texas. There will be a reception following at the church.
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