Born
with the gift of vivaciousness, Gail Robb did what comes
naturally when confronted with cancer: she reached out to
help others faced with the diagnosis as a Reach to Recovery
volunteer for the American Cancer Society. This year, she's
taken on an additional role in the fight against cancer as
honorary co-chairman of North Carroll County's Relay for
Life event.
She'll tell her story on June 2 during opening ceremonies of
the event that has become one of Carroll County's favorite
festivals. Held at McKenzie's City Park off Como Road to the
west or College Drive on the east side, Relay for Life is a
time when throngs of folks of all ages gather to enjoy a
night of fun, food and celebration while raising money to
fight cancer and assist those who have it. There you'll hear
first hand her story that begins with the stunned disbelief
she experienced when faced with the dreaded word cancer, and
ends with the honey-woven tapestry that is Gail's life.
Gail and husband Dean are transplants to the county,
arriving in McKenzie in 1975 with the advent of Republic
Builders in the region. Born Nancy Gail Davis, she is native
to Cleveland, Ohio, where she was the middle child born to
Nancy and Hershel Davis, between younger sister, Gloria
Klimo, and her 11-year-older brother, Melvin.
She and Dean, who was raised in Hermitage, Pennsylvania, met
when both were students at Fenn College (now Cleveland State
University.) Gail shares that she was first dating Dean's
best friend, Don, while Dean was out of school working on a
co-op assignment.
"He kept telling me, 'You've got to meet Dean!'" she says,
"and when I met Dean, that was it."
Gail recalls a childhood marked by her father's blindness.
"To this day I still read the sports page," she declares
after long years of reading the headlines to her father, who
would then choose the stories he wanted her to read.
"He had a wonderful outlook on life," she says of her
father, who worked for the Society for the Blind. She would
help him after school, and Dean also assisted him in his
business after the couple married.
Dean went to work for Republic Steel in Cleveland during
which time the couple had two children, Greg and Brian. He
transferred to Youngstown in 1963, the year after their
third son, Kurt, was born. There, Dean completed his degree
in business administration and industrial management. Later,
their only daughter, Jill, was born.
The
family was still young when they came to McKenzie, one of
eight families selected to get the Republic plant started.
The men came first as the women got to know each other in
advance of the move. Of the eight, two settled in Dresden,
one in Huntingdon, two in Martin, and three in McKenzie.
"It was an opportunity for Dean; it was a challenge to build
a new plant and get it going, especially in his field, "she
says. "We've never regretted the move, we love the South."
The men first set up an office in downtown Jackson, then
worked from Bethel's Dickie Fine Arts Building before
setting up construction and office trailers on site while
the facility was being built.
Dean, relaxing in the cozy den of the couple's home on
Stonewall Street, says, "The city of McKenzie, everybody
went out of their way to make everybody comfortable."
Gail sits amid some of her favorite
grandchildren, a list that includes the two pictured in the
top photo, Blake and Shaylon. Pictured in the lower photo
are, left to right, Kyle, Jackson, Nicholas, Gail and
Lauren, Aaron, and Audrey.
When Gail arrived in September, over Labor Day weekend, the
family lived in the motel while their home was being built.
She recalls a slew of good wishes coming from everyone from
Mayor and Mrs. Swat Scarbrough on down. "Everybody was so
helpful," she says.
When Greg and Brian, who were a junior and senior in high
school, failed to return home after their first day of
school, the Robb's discovered their sons were on the
football team. Jill, then eight-years-old, was in third
grade; Kurt was in middle school. "The children just adapted
so easily," she says.
One of the first persons she met was Ludie Gaines. "She made
sure I met people," says Gail, going on to name Carol Odom
and Ophelia Stewart as other "firsts", as well as Jo Ann and
John Motheral, Jerry and Virginia Moran, and more.
By the time Christmas rolled around, the couple decided,
"This house needs some memories." Gail knew 44 women; she
invited them all to a Christmas party that would become
legendary among her wide circle of friends.
"So many of them are gone now," says Gail, thumbing through
old photographs. Some have relocated while others, like
Ludie and Ophelia, have passed on.
In 1990, Gail's Christmas enterprise was joined first by
friend Nellie Hale and, later, Sandra Spires. The event was
made more fun by the matching outfits they would fashion for
the special day. What the trio would wear became a theme for
conversation as the day approached.
"So many little ladies will tell me how much it means to
them," says Gail regarding older friends who may not venture
out in the season except to come to the party. "I get so
many beautiful notes. It makes Christmas for me and my
children grew up with it."
Gail's work in the early years was a voluntary labor of
love: Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, taking her daughter's dance
group to the Strawberry and Banana festivals, Welcome Wagon,
and the like.
Sandra Spires, Gail Robb, and Nellie Hale
sport identical outfits at one of their Christmas parties.
She later took a job at Gaines Manufacturing Company in the
production ticket department, a job that lasted 17 years.
"I can't say enough about Gaines Manufacturing and the
people there," she says. "To this day its such a close-knit
group, anyone who ever worked there. It broke my heart when
they closed the doors."
She then worked part-time at McKenzie Banking Company, which
she says, "was another wonderful place to be. I enjoy
working with the public and would have stayed longer but (in
2002) Dean retired. They were so good to me, they went out
of their way for me."
Gail and Dean now have eight grandchildren: Shaylon, 13, and
Blake, 7, are the children of Greg and Stephanie, who live
in Martin. Nicholas, 6, and Lauren, 4, live in Atlanta with
parents Kurt and Dawn. Kyle, 11, Aaron, 9, Jackson, 6, and
Audrey, 4, are the children of Jill and Gary Keepes in
Petersburg, Indiana. Brian, who is single, lives in
Franklin.
"Each one gives you something else," Dean smiles. Gail adds,
"There's no favorites," after which Dean fills in, "And
they're all favorites."
Now she and Dean along with Nellie and Gene Hale volunteer
each year at the LPGA golf tournament in Franklin. Gail and
Nellie work with the hospitality crew while Dean and Gene
work as scorers for ESPN.
"It's like going to camp, we wear little uniforms with
matching hats," she smiles.
In July the past two years they've also participated in "The
Vinnie": Nashville's Junior Golf event that is hosted by
Vince Gill and Amy Grant. They greet guests at the airport
and escort the players' parents around the greens by golf
cart.
"We meet some of the nicest people from the state of
Tennessee," says Gail. "It's rewarding to hear their stories
and where their kids are going to go to college, to get a
peek at their worlds."
Gail and Dean attend the Holy Cross Catholic Church in Paris
where she is a member of the Parish Council of Catholic
Women and he is a member of the Knights of Columbus. Dean is
also a member of the church's finance council and is a
member of McKenzie's planning commission.
Gail enjoys being an active member of the Beta Sigma Phi
sorority in McKenzie. "It's a wonderful group of women, a
service organization I am so grateful to be a part of," she
says. She's also been a member of the bridge club for 29
years. "That's a lovely group of friends," she says. "My
calendar's always full."
Her ordeal with cancer came after years of taking for
granted the irregularities presented by fibrocystic disease,
which she had long endured. Therefore, in 1997 when she
returned home from vacation to discover a letter asking her
to return to the doctor's office following a routine
mammogram the week before, she felt no alarm, just
frustration that they hadn't discussed it with her at the
time of her visit, as had often happened during previous
visits due to the fibrocystic lesions. When the mammogram
was repeated, she was told there was a definite
irregularity. She was referred to Dr. George Thomas at the
Jackson Clinic.
The wait was another party as, two days after the birth of
her second grandchild, Kyle, she and other patients waited
"all day" for the popular physician. "He was a very, very
good surgeon," Gail explains. "Everybody thought the world
of him."
After the exam, he insisted that a biopsy be done
immediately. "If you think that I'm concerned, I am," Gail
recalls him saying, though the word cancer was not spoken.
It was only when she was registering for the outpatient
surgery that she saw what he had written: "tumor, left
side."
"I went back and sat next to Dean and said, 'They're calling
it a tumor.'"
She had determined long before that if she ever had breast
cancer, she would have a mastectomy. The surgery was
scheduled for July 19. In the meantime, Jill planned Kyle's
baptism. The entire family gathered at St. John the Baptist
Catholic Church in Newberg, Indiana for the baptism as well
as a motivational retreat for Gail.
"During mass the priest said a special blessing for the
sick. I went up to the altar for that; it was especially
meaningful for me with all my children gathered there. It
was really beautiful to have all my children together at
mass.'
With the doctor determining it would be "overkill" to
prescribe chemotherapy or radiation, Gail was spared the
sickness many cancer patients experience just to get well.
She still has yearly mammograms and can't stress enough the
importance of the routine checkups. "I was the first one in
my family to have cancer," she says. "And that was one of
the hardest things I had to do was tell my daughter and
nieces who now had to say, 'yes, we have cancer in our
family.'"
Through the Reach and Recovery program, she provides
information, a strong shoulder and a double dose of
encouragement to new breast cancer victims. "I actually
think it gives me as much comfort as I give them," she says
of the rewarding role.
Her visits are discreet, confidential and always undertaken
only with permission. The subjects discussed range from
support to prostheses.
"Everybody handles it differently," she says, noting the
importance of positive thinking. "From the very beginning I
prayed... You can't walk away from it, you just have to face
it head on."
She wears a pink ribbon to bring attention to the fact that
breast cancer exists. "I always hope someone will see that
and think, 'I need to get a mammogram; I need to do a breast
check. The biggest reason I wear the ribbon is that I hope
it helps someone else."
