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Gail was born
At Veteran's Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth, Kansas. She was born to Helen Pflughoeft and Kenny Pflughoeft.
Helen was a clerk ay Sitez drug store.
Kenny worked at Northern Gas Plant. -
Barbie Doll Released
Gail and Debbie loved playing with barbies. They played together a lot and her Aunt Bernice made clothes for the girls barbies. -
School!
Public School in Ellsworth went to school all the way until HS. Gail had to get her GED because she became a mom in HS. School was fairly easy for her and she did good other than she goofed off a lot. -
Renovated house
Up until age 12 Gail shared her room with her older brother Kenny and younger sister Debbie. They added 2 more rooms. After that Kenny got his own room and all 3 of girls shared a room. -
Discipline.
When Gail or her siblings got out of line there parents used a belt or broke yard sticks on there butts as a form of discipline.
One thing Gail did that she knew she would get the belt for was chasing her brother around the house then cornered him and beat him with a highheel. She got spanked with the belt and grounded. -
What is your favorite memory with your siblings?
Gail and her 3 siblings have always been pretty close, even her mom agreed to this. As children they loved to play outside in the creek by there house. They would catch crawdads. They also use to get all the neighbor hood kids together to play baseball. -
Got first job at Birchers Dairy
First job at a restraunt cooking, wait staff, run food inside or outside, cleaning.
At only age 12 -
Most important lesson.
What is the most important lesson you learned over life?
If your parents tell you to be home at a certain time you better be there. Gail had her guy friend pick her up and they went to a Beer Party. When the guy brought her home it was past her curfew and she got locked out. She had the guy lift her up to the window and banged on her brothers window until he came and unlocked the door. -
Martin Luther King Jr Killed
What was your reaction to the shooting of MLK Jr?
-Felt bad for the family but it didn't affect her personally. She did not understand the importance of what he was fighting for, Civil Rights. She came from a town of majority white people. -
Smoking?
Did you ever do any drugs or smoke cigarettes?
-I stole cigs from my Dad smoked in the bathroom I got caught and got spanked with the belt. I never did any drugs or even smoked weed. The smell made me sick to my stomach. -
Meeting first husband.
How did you and Mark meet?
We met in the HS library. It was snowing and the football game was cancelled. They were talking about what to do since the game was cancelled. Gail joked about Mark picking her up from her house to hang out and he showed up. There relationship blossomed from there. They dated for 8 months and got married when she was 5 months pregnant. -
Teenage Parties
What did you do as a teen?
-We went to every football game. We spent a lot of time at the Lake or strangers fields. We called them Beer Parties we would get the beer go find a place. We would drink, listen to music, hangout. At the Lake they would get drunk and jump off the cliffs. One night she was really drunk driving home and was seeing triples and almost wrecked because she couldn't tell which was actually the road. They all made it home safe though. -
If you could change anything in your life, would you?
Gail said if she could change anything in her life she would have not married at age 16. She would have waited until they were a older. -
Married Mark
After finding out they were pregnant they took the iniative to get married. -
Stephanie was born
Gail at age 17 gave birth to her first girl.
Over Stephanie's life she made some not so smart choices, the #1 surprise is when she got caught shoplifting shoes in Hays. When I found out Stephanie was pregnant with her first child I was upset because of the choice of father. I helped her as much as I could with delivery and at home. When Steph got married to Rich she thought they would be together forever. As of now Gail is still not happy with some of Steph's choices and who she hangs around. -
What was it like having a child so young and getting married?
At age 16 got married and age 17 had first daughter. There was definitely some challenges raising a kid so young. It made her feel honored and proud. Right after marriage Mark and Gail moved in together and raised there child. Gail thinks living together taught her a lot about growing up and not relying on parents. -
Chad was born. (First and only boy)
Gail gave birth to her first and only boy.
Chad is married to Jennifer they are perfect for each other. They are happily married. They have 4 kids and Jennifer does an excellent job taking care of them and teaching them. She does very well with the kids during all the moves for Chad's career and taking care of them while he is gone. -
Erin was born. (Last child)
Gail gave birth to a beautiful little girl.
As Erin grew up she always had a heart for animals. Erin surprised Gail when she went to Colby College since it was so far from home. She also surprised Gail when she started dating Todd but Gail knows they are perfect for each other. The other major surprise was when Erin told Gail she was pregnant. She always thought Erin would not give her human grandbabies just fur babies. -
Treasure Most.
What did your parents teach you to treasure most?
They taught Gail to treasure religion and family the most. While growing up they were really active at the Luthern Chuch in Ellsworth going to weekday school and attending church on Sundays. They always did several family things together and were very close. As of now Gail wishes we did more things as a family and she went to church more. -
Sisters
Gail wishes she would of taught her sisters the dangers of drugs so they wouldn't have had to go through what they did. When Kim was at a party with friends her drink got spiked and she had to go to the hospital. Debbie was addicted to pills and smoked weed.
Gail and Kim were always very close but Debbie and Gail had a love/hate relationship Debbie was always tagging along with Gail and her friends. Gail was also always having to babysit Debbie, -
Biggest Achievement
What is your biggest achievement?
-Her biggest achievement was when she graduated Floral School as 2nd in her class. It was a big thing for her because she wanted to be a floral designer. -
Joining the Army.
Surprise I am joinging Army:
-He wrote a letter to Senator Robert Dull asking what he needed to do to get into West Point after graduation. Gail did not know about it until Chad got a reply in mail and saw there was a letter from Senator to Chad.
1st Reaction: "I was scared my dad was in World War II. I wasn't a big fan of my son being in such a dangerous career. As I look back now I am so proud of everything he has done. He is such a great man and he has got so far in his military career." -
What is your proudest moment as a mom?
Gail's response was her proudest moment being a mother was having all 3 of her kids graduate high school. Even though Stephanie struggled a lot, Gail was very proud. She also said just becoming a mom in general was a proud moment. -
Became a Grandma
What have you learned about living a happy life you didn't know when you were 20?
-It would be so awesome to become a grandma, having kids was fun. But being able to spoil grandkids and spend time with them without actually having to raise them has been amazing. Also seeing how much your own kids use of what you taught them and being so proud of little humans your own kids bring you. -
Trip to Hawaii
Where have you traveled to?
-In November 1997, Mark and Gail went to Hawaii for Mark's business trip. She loved it there it was so warm and beautiful. She tried scuba diving but never made it out of the training pool. -
Met Paul
Gail and Paul met at the bar started hanging out more. If Gram got to drunk at the bar, Paul would always take her home instead of letting her drive. They started dating for 5 years before getting married. -
Where were you during 9/11?
9/11 Flashback-Working at the Credit Union in Ellsworth. A customer came in and told them about it, they turned on the radio. They were in disbelief and scared. It was a very gloom day. She was worried about a friend from HS that worked at the Pentagon, she heard from her friend and they were okay. She was scared even though she lived in Kansas. She said she couldn't even imagine the feeling of the families. -
Married Paul
On Valentine's Day Gail and Paul got married on the mountains in Colorado at 14,000 ft. After the wedding they were suppose to skii down the mountain together but Gail hurt her knee and couldn't skii. Paul was able to skii down the mountain. -
Trip to Connecticut
In 2010, I went out to Connecticut to visit Steph, Rich and the kids. While I was there we went to the beach even though it was cold. I loved Mystic Aquarium even though it made me mad the whales only had that small space. The sea lion show was pretty cool. We drove back and forth from New London to Groton over the same bridge like 4 times to find an open fresh seafood restaurant. I would love to go back during the warmer months to really enjoy the beach. -
BBQ with whole family
What is your favorite moment with your grandkids?
-She said her favorite memory with her grandkids was Labor Day when Chad's family was home from overseas and we were all at the farm. We made a huge tornadoe thing in the pool and rode fourwheelers. She said she enjoyed seeing how much we have all grown and talking about our teenage lives. -
Trip to almost Mexico.
She went to El Paso to watch Chad's kids while they were away. While being in El Paso she enjoyed the weather and spending time with the kids. One day they were going to the zoo and almost crossed the border to Mexico. She said while being at the zoo if she would of spit it would of landed in Mexico. -
Remembered about you.
What do you want to be remembered about you?
-She wants her family to remember how much she loved us. She wants her grandkids to remember all the zoo trips, shopping trips, and just how much she spoiled us.
I will always remember the bonfires at her house when she would drink Captain Morgan and I saw of my Grandma I never thought I would. -
Biggest regret.
What is your biggest regret in life?
-Not taking more college wanted to become a marine biologist but getting pregnant messed it up instead became a floral designer. -
Bucket list.
What is one thing you would like to do before you die?
-Love to travel to Africa and see wild animals in there natural habitat. The rhinos and girraffes especially.
-Also love to go back to Hawaii and just enjoy the tropical beauty. -
Proudest moment.
What was your proudest moment?
-After getting divorced from Mark she was very proud when she got to go somewhere by herself. While married she always traveled with Nannie. She loved having the freedom flying to Seattle or driving to Minnesota. -
One more lesson
What is one thing you wish you would of taught your kids you didn't know as they were growing up?
-She wish she would of taught Steph to make better choices in life. She wishes she would of taught all her kids the importance of money, taught them to value money, save, and start a retirement fund, -
Teens Today
What advice would you give teens today?
-She would teach kids the importance of waiting to have sex. She knows teens hear this all the time but it really does matter. You should make sure your first is with the right person. When having sex you are risking an unplanned pregnancy or getting a disease. Seriously just be careful and wait. Don't just have sex because make it worth it.
