Gail Elinor Eubanks

On April 24, 2015, after twelve years of failing health and a recent stroke, Gail Elinor Eubanks (nee Locke), much beloved & cherished wife, mother, grandmother, sister, cousin, and friend, finally loosed the physical bonds which kept her on this Earth, and soared to eternal rest. She would have been 91 years old in less than one month. She leaves behind to celebrate and honor her life, her loving husband, Huard Houston “Doc” Eubanks, children Susan (John) McIlhenny, DeeAnn (Jim) Pochedly, and Matthew (Tamara) Eubanks, grandchildren Sarah, Rachel, and Andrew Pochedly, Blake and Derek Eubanks, step-grandchildren Travis (Yuri) and Michael McIlhenny, and step-great grandson Leland McIlhenny. She will also be remembered fondly by her dear sisters/brothers- in-law, cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends. Gail was preceded in death by her parents, Jesse May Locke (nee Miller), and Hazen Hayward Locke, and her brother, Hale Holden Locke.

Gail was born on May 17, 1924 in Lyons, Kansas. After a brief move to California, she returned to Kansas with her mother and brother, working on their grandparents’ farm in the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression, which made her tough and resolute as an adult. Shortly after finishing high school, Gail enlisted in the Army Cadet Nurse Corps in 1943, and trained to become a nurse at Grace Hospital in Hutchison, Kansas, then in St. Louis, Missouri, for psychiatric nursing. Gail was allowed to finish her nurse’s training, but was released from her obligation to become an Army Officer Nurse due to the ending of WWII a few years earlier.

In 1949, she moved to Houston to take a nursing position at the VA hospital, eventually becoming Head Nurse in Psychiatry, then later worked in Obstetrics at Hermann Hospital. She met Huard, a process engineer, in May of 1954, and they married on August 21, 1954. Once they began to be blessed with children, Gail stayed home to care for her family, keeping herself very involved with their educations, as well as church and the United Methodist Women’s group in Pasadena. Upon her husband’s transfer in 1968 to Ohio as an executive with The Lubrizol Corporation, Gail worked again for a number of years as a psychiatric nurse at Hanna Pavilion, University Hospitals, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Doc and Gail returned to the Houston area in 1978, where they have lived ever since. They have travelled throughout their married life to many places across the continental United States, sightseeing or to see their children & grandchildren in Ohio or California, as well as Kansas for her relatives there and touring Europe and Alaska. Gail’s hobbies included gardening, cooking, and creating beautifully detailed pieces of needlework, her specialties being felt Christmas tree skirts, stockings, and ornaments, as a member of the Love Circle of United Methodist Women at Asbury United Methodist in Pasadena, Texas.

Her greatest accomplishment was that of a devoted wife and mother, who would do anything for those she loved. In May of 2014, Gail was feted at a grand dinner party for her 90th birthday, then in August that same year, Gail & Doc celebrated their 60th year of marriage with their family in Ohio. She will be remembered as a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother, and a model of courage and bravery in the face of adversity to us all. Many thanks go to loving friends at Foundry United Methodist Church, and the caring staff at Houston Methodist Willowbrook Hospital and Good Shepherd Hospice. Though our hearts ache at our loss, we know she is finally whole and at peace, and take comfort that she will always be with us in our thoughts and deeds.