Gail Elizabeth Charboneau

Gail Elizabeth Charboneau (née Mahon), 64, of Spanaway Washington, went to her eternal reward on March 27, 2022.

Gail was born to William and Elenor Mahon on March 9, 1958 in Great Falls Montana. She spent her youth in Great Falls attending St. Peter and Paul, and Great Falls Central Catholic (until it closed in 1973) and graduated from Great Falls High in 1976. 

She married in 1979 to Kevin (divorced in 2007). The Air Force soon assigned Kevin to McCord AFB, and they relocated to Spanaway Washington, where Gail would live for the rest of her life.

Her first child Kevin W was born in 1981, followed by David in 1984, and Elizabeth in 1989. Gail spent most of the 1990s working tirelessly as a stay at home mom: hand crafting halloween costumes, planning cub scout and girl scout activities and getting her kids involved in various sports and activities. 

When Elizabeth entered school, Gail became a frequent volunteer. She discovered she had a passion and gift for teaching. After working for a few years as a paraeducator, she went back to school, earning a BA from University of Washington (‘05), and an MA in Education from Pacific Lutheran University (‘07). In fall of 2007, she began working full time as an elementary school teacher in the Bethel School District. 

Besides teaching, Gail’s passions included her 8 grandchildren, Lego and art. She is known affectionately by her grandchildren as “Lego Grandma” and spent many hours building Lego projects with them.  Among her many works of art, a “Starry Starry Night” themed carousel horse sculpture was featured in a Downtown Seattle street art project entitled “Ponies on Parade" in 2005. 

She enjoyed traveling and was often on adventures with her sister Marci or with her close friends/trouble makers who referred to themselves as the “YeeYaws.”

She is survived by her three children, 7 grandchildren, brother, sister, mother and father, and many friends. 

She will be missed. 

Funeral Mass to be held at Our Lady Queen of Heaven in Spanaway on April 23, at 11am. Reception to follow at Evergreen Elementary School. Inurnment will be at a later date at Holy Rood Cemetery in Seattle.

In lieu of flowers we’d love for you to consider a donation to Arts Ed Washington (artsedwashington.org). Gail believed deeply in the importance of arts education, loved teaching art to children and finding ways to encourage creativity in her students. 

We’ll also be collecting new Lego sets at the reception to be donated to the Seattle Children’s Hospital. 

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