Gale Waxman

Gale Waxman Obituary

Gale Waxman, a longtime resident of Washington, DC, passed away on Tuesday, April 21st, at the age of 85 after several years of declining health. She is survived by her sons, Peter Waxman (Courtney Johnson) of Seattle and Andrew Waxman (Blair Johnson) of Austin, and her grandchildren Freja and Theo. She is also survived by her siblings John "Bounce" Ricket and Peter Ricket.Gale was born in Kittanning, Pennsylvania on September 15th, 1940, to Josephine and Homer Ricket. After attending Indiana University of Pennsylvania, she moved to Washington, DC in 1961.

Gale was a proud Washingtonian, having lived in the District for 48 years before spending her later years in Bethesda, Maryland, where she was next door to her late sister, Kay Bowman. She thrived in Washington of the 1960s: residing in row houses in Georgetown among a milieu of ambitious young people who flooded into the nation's capital during the heady years of the Kennedy Administration. She worked in various federal offices and met her late husband, Robert, at a party in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware in 1964. They were married three years later in Georgetown. 

The success of her boys was Gale's great passion, but her boundless spirit meant that she was always up to something. She worked part time at the Junior League Shop and later for economist L. William Seidman's financial services office (both in Georgetown). She also volunteered and later worked at St. Albans School, which her son Andrew attended, as well as at the All Hallows Guild Tour & Tea program nearby at the National Cathedral. Gale was an active member of the philanthropic organization P.E.O. International, fundraising for women from challenged backgrounds to obtain college and advanced degrees. She was a lover of animals, a devoted cruciverbalist, and a fiend for a good suspense novel or film. In the mid-1980s Gale started an institution among friends old and new, the weekly 'Nails' group of women, that has continued to meet each Monday over the ensuing decades for a soiree of wine, pedicures, and great conversation. 

Gale had a unique ability to connect with and care about other people. She spoke her mind without hesitation. A common occurrence was to find her having walked into a room of strangers and in a few minutes-not infrequently to the embarrassment of her sons when they were young-she was swapping life stories with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. The sound of her laughter will be greatly missed.

Please share memories and sign the guestbook located below. 

Arrangements entrusted to Emmick Family Funeral Home of West Seattle