GAILEEN ' GAY' DAWN PARRISH  |  August 19, 1941 – December 1, 2023

My mother passed away peacefully and in my presence on Friday, December 1 around 8:30am from Alzheimer’s disease.

She was born August 19, 1941, in Dallas to the Rev. William and Otillie Parrish and was the youngest of three children, with the oldest brother, Bill, and sister Joanne just before her. Her father’s pastoral profession took the family all across Texas, and so Gay attended schools in Burnet, Three Rivers, and Falfurrias. She began college at Trinity University in San Antonio but finished her undergraduate education at the University of North Texas in Denton.

PROFESSIONAL CAREER 

Gay attended graduate school at Northern Illinois University, where Gay earned an M.A. in Theater. She was then launched on a decades-long career in theater and television, working as a writer, producer, and director. She was a reporter and anchor for WISH-TV in Indianapolis, Indiana, and at KXAS-TV (NBC5) in Dallas-Fort Worth. While working at KYTV-TV in Springfield, Missouri, she produced, wrote, and directed special documentaries on subjects of public health such as venereal disease and water quality that garnered her and the station an Emmy nomination for community service programming.

In Dallas, she worked as an executive producer on “Good Health from Jane Brody’s Kitchen” for PBS through KERA TV. Brody, a New York Times food and health columnist, hosted a ten-part series through 1985-96 that focused on the importance of food in maintaining good health. (Her recipe for oat bran muffins became a staple in Gay’s household.) Gay was teamed with director Christi Collier under the rubric of Collier/Parrish Productions. They also participated in the cooking show’s broader offshoot: “Here’s to Your Health.” When the University of Texas Southwest Health Center instituted a 13-part series for PBS with KERA-TV called “Life Matters,” Gay’s team produced many of the episodes, including those on adolescent anxiety, epilepsy, and heart attacks.

In the late 80s, Gay produced and wrote a documentary entitled “Spirits of the Canyon: Ancient Art of the Pecos Indians” for airing on KERA and PBS nationally. TV Guide offer this description of the film: This documentary takes the viewer into the magical canyons of New Mexico to see the art on the red rock that bears silent witness to an ancient culture. The Pecos civilization reached its peak in the 15th century. In petroglyphs and pictographs, the pueblo tribe told its stories. There are drawings of objects and animals important to the culture. Archaeologists discuss their meaning and importance.

In the early 90s, Gay joined the communications staff at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where she headed the media production services department and was assistant director for Biocommunications. She wrote and produced videos for the entire university, and also did video production work for the Army Corps Engineers, University of Texas A&M Galveston, the Sisters of Charity Healthcare System, and other nonprofit organizations in the Galveston area. Victor Scott, a former colleague of Gay’s, said that she was an exceptional interviewer. “She treated each interviewee with tremendous respect regardless of the subject matter. It didn't matter if it was a researcher or the president of the university or someone working in a custodial role. She took the time to really get to know them and did a beautiful job of weaving interviews and her writing together to tell magnificent stories and educate so many of our employees and a variety of other audiences regarding a multitude of medical education and historical Galveston Island topics.” Gay retired from service to UTMB in 2005 and continued to freelance from her lakeside getaway in Sunrise Beach, TX. There, she indulged her lifelong love of gardening, reading, hiking, and her equally-persistent passion – pets.  Gay was an animal lover and during her lifetime rescued litters of kittens, stray dogs. She had a quirky sense of humor – when asked how family should dispose of her ashes, she said, “Just put them in a Folger’s coffee can and bury it by my parents.” She loved ballroom dancing in her youth and was an excellent swimmer and sailor. 

SURVIVED BY

Gay is survived by her daughter, Holly Parrish Smith, and grandchildren Dakota O'Neill Smith, Kiran Patel Smith, and Chloe Patel Smith, and her former husband, Charles Smith. She is predeceased by her parents and her son, Morgan Parrish Smith.

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