"Smile because it happened." she said.  Fitting. What a terrific smile she had. 

I will forever remember her beautiful smile 

Gayleen Dawn Parrish Smith came into my life when I was 20 years old. She was the new graduate student who headed up the new lab theatre at NIU, where students could produce/direct and run all production phases of a play for the first time. I was the first undergraduate assistant for the project. I can’t explain how much I learned from this soft spoken, smart, tiny lady who was strong and kind and critical when necessary. It was also the beginning of a life-long friendship that only seemed to have “ups” though there were times of sharing life’s “downs” with understanding and compassion.

It would take a long time to describe the many things we shared, though a few stand out:

Visiting Springfield Missouri just before the 1967 snow storm on the return; sailing Lake Michigan and discovering cherry/berry pie; sending my 7 year old daughter solo on her first plane trip to visit Gay who gave her a grand tour of Texas country; doing exercises with both of them at her lovely country home; having fun here in Amsterdam when Gay and Holly were on their way to the wedding in India.

She was a problem solver for sure. When visiting Evanston the last time, she had seen one of the previews of a musical we were producing and we were having trouble with the ending. Enter Ms. Parrish who was able to pinpoint the problem and offer a pretty easy solution. It worked and that piece was quite a success.

How thankful I am to have had Gay in my life. Friend, counsellor, colleague…she is missed.

Ruth Higgins

Gigi moved out to Cypress around 2014 and that became my sister and I’s haven. Every weekend my dad would load us up and take us to Gigi’s house. It was two stories, three bedrooms and a shed and swing set in the backyard. The biggest surprise was one weekend walking into our bedroom fully decorated, that’s when I knew this was truly my 3rd home.  I remember every Saturday saying my hellos to Gigi and the dogs and making my way to the swing set where I could easily be for hours at a time. I learned my love for cooking at Gigis house, every evening we would head out to H-E-B to buy the essentials: bath bombs, pancake mix, hill fare country spread butter, cheese spray for Douglas, and usually a wide assortment of random food items we felt like using for dinner. Every Sunday morning before my Dad would come to pick me up again we’d follow with our Sunday routine. Wake up, make pancakes, feed burnt pancakes to the birds, play on the swings, and if it was fall- we’d rake up all the leaves and take turns jumping into them. Gigi taught me things that normal seven year olds typically weren’t taught, like how to tell which rocks were arrowheads, how to tend to two litters of kittens,  how to successfully give your unwillingly dog its flea medicine, and how to love unconditionally. Gigi never failed to remind me how loved I was. Through her poetry, music, and acts of kindness- she taught me that everyone and everything deserves to be loved and taken care of. She was the best grandmother.

We had so much fun together !

Love these 2

When the cat farted !

The love between Gay & Dakota was so precious

Christmas 1959 — with Gay, Daddy Bill and Bryant Butler

Parrish Children at Methodist Parsonage Alamo Methodist Church San Antonio, Tx — with Joanna, Gay and Bill