Patricia Gail Lanier

Patricia Gail Lanier passed quickly from this life to be home with Jesus for Christmas on December 18, 2018.  Gail, as she was known, was a vibrant, happy, giving mom and friend.  She was born on July 27, 1938 in Pontotoc, Oklahoma.  She attended grade school and high school there graduating as valedictorian.  After high school, she attended Murray State College graduating with an associate’s degree.  She then moved to Ada, Oklahoma for work and joined the First Baptist Church.  It was there that she met and married the love of her life, David Lester Lanier.  Their two children were born in Ada.  They moved often, to Tulsa, to Moore, to St Louis, MO, back to Oklahoma to Enid, then Moore again, and Oklahoma City. 

Gail worked as secretary for the First Baptist Church of Moore and then went on to work as the WMU secretary for the Baptist Convention of Oklahoma until retiring at 65.  Gail’s husband passed in Oklahoma City after a long difficult illness.  Gail then moved to Richland, Washington in 2017 in order to be cared for by her daughter and son-in-law. 

Gail was a fabulous cook and seamstress.  She was never without a sewing or embroidery project when she knew she had to wait for a while somewhere.  She made her own wedding dress and that of her daughter’s as well.  She loved to bake cookies for the neighbors who knew her as Miss Gail.  And she loved gardening as well.  One of the things she often lamented after moving to an apartment in Richland was that every time, she peeled a fruit or vegetable, she no longer had a compost pile in which to put the peelings.  

Gail was preceded in death by her parents, Wilson and Polly Harden, her brother Hardy Harden, and her husband, David Lanier.  She is survived by her two sisters, Sue Combes and Linda Maughan (John), her two children, Rene’ Moore (Tom) and Stephen Lanier (Kylla); five grandchildren: Matt, Sarah, and Drew Jackson (Sarah), Ben Lanier, Kim Clay (Ethan); three grandchildren by marriage: Kari Peterson (Mark), Isabel Banks (Zack), and Faith Guzman.  Also, five great-grandsons. 

The Celebration of Life service will be held Saturday, January 5, at 2 pm at the First Baptist Church, 3800 N. Mueller Avenue, Bethany, OK. 

As an expression of sympathy, memorial contributions can be made in her name to the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, Lottie Moon Offering for International Missions