‘She really had a calling’
Long-time Trumbull, Monroe EMS worker Gail Sawicki dies at 59
TRUMBULL — Leigh Goodman didn’t know Gail Sawicki from Sawicki’s 30-plus years as a volunteer with Trumbull Emergency Medical Services.
By the time Goodman, now director of emergency medical services for Trumbull, had joined the town, Sawicki had already moved on to work with Monroe EMS, first as an administrative assistant and then as an administrator. But the fact that they didn’t work together doesn’t mean their paths didn’t cross, Goodman said.
“I did know,” Goodman said of Sawicki. “You couldn’t not know her. She was an absolute gem. She loved the industry and she loved EMS.”
Sawicki, 59, of Trumbull, died Sunday, more than two years after being diagnosed with breast cancer. She was remembered fondly by those who knew her as someone who was always committed to her work and those she loved.
Frank Sawicki, her husband of more than 40 years, said Gail approached him about wanting to become an EMT only a few years after they were married.
“I think she really had a calling,” he said. “She was a kind, caring person.”
That extended to their home lives too, Frank said.
“She’s the type of person that, when she would prepare a meal for our family she would cook way too much food and everyone would leave here with (extra) food.”
He said Gail volunteered
with Trumbull until roughly 2013, when she was offered a paid position with Monroe EMS. There she continued to work hard and do anything that was needed of her, Monroe officials said.
“She went above and beyond in everything she did for us,” said Monroe EMS Chief Don Smith. “She always had a smile on her face. She was always very positive and encouraging. She did anything and everything to help out. If there was a food drive, she would show up.”
Though Gail took a leave from her Monroe job in 2020 after her breast cancer diagosis, both Smith and Frank Sawicki said service was never far from her mind.
Smith said Gail did some of her administrative work from home even after she went on leave and Frank Sawicki said last summer his wife even took classes to re-certify as an EMT.
“She continued to do stuff behind the scenes,” Smith said.
In addition to her work with EMS, Gail Sawicki was active in her church and was a loving wife, mother and grandmother, her husband sid.
A funeral service will take place 10 a.m. Friday in Nichols United Methodist Church, 35 Shelton Road, Trumbull. Interment will follow in Gate of Heaven Cemetery. Friends may greet the family from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Abriola Parkview Funeral Home, 419 White Plains Road, Trumbull.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to Smilow Cancer Center, c/o Yale NH Hospital Office of Development, PO Box 1949, New Haven, CT 06508 or to Nichols United Methodist Church, 35 Shelton Road, Trumbull, CT 06611.