January 20, 1943 – December 7, 2023
Our talented and beautiful mother, Gail Hawisher, died peacefully on December 7th from a hemorrhagic stroke. It was quick, painless, and totally unexpected. We celebrate her and the love she had for so many. Her friend and colleague Cynthia Selfe wrote the following, and we believe it is perfect for a time like this.
My heart is broken, and my world shaken at the news that my dear friend, colleague, and collaborator has passed away. Gail was the inspiration, architect, engineer, and coxswain on almost every project I ever undertook as a scholar.
Gail helped pioneer the specialization of Computers and Writing, as an author of so many respected books and articles, as an editor of *Computers and Composition*, as a graduate teacher and mentor of some of the brightest and best among us. She led the way in authoring and crafting digital and multimodal scholarship, and in serving as an Exemplar for members of the Conference on College Composition and Communication.
Through it all, Gail took the most joy in working with students and sharing her perspectives and considerable expertise with them in generous ways. She always treasured their individual talents and worked to help them find their own voices and places in the profession.
She had the memory of an elephant, a wicked sense of humor, a love of travel and exploration, an infallible sense of propriety, and the stature of a giant. She was small but mighty in all her dealings. She was the very best of friends.
I share the sorrow of Gail’s husband, Tom, her children Dayle and Lance, her grandchildren, the many graduate and undergraduate students with whom she worked over her long and impressive career. It is hard, indeed, to lose such a teacher, scholar, wife, mother, grandmother and friend.
A Celebration of Life will be held this coming Spring in Champaign Urbana, Illinois.
Thomas Hawisher, Dayle Benson, Lance Carlson and our Families