Gail Tyler
Groton Long Point — Gail Hobert Tyler, 87, of Groton Long Point passed away peacefully in the early hours of May 17, 2020. Gail was born and raised in Holyoke, Mass., the oldest child of Roland and Clare Manning Hobert of Hobert Funeral Home.
Gail attended Highland School, John J. Lynch Junior High and graduated from Holyoke High in 1950. She married Grant Tyler and after a stint in Clarksville, Tenn., moved to West Hartford, where they raised their enormous family of 10 children. She was the loving matriarch to an ever-expanding family that has grown to include 20 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren, each one loved and attended to by a doting, supportive and ever-present Grand-Ma-Ma who attended religious, academic, athletic, musical and social events with an astounding consistency. Every single one of them knew that every birthday would be also highlighted by a card and note in the most beautiful handwriting and a dollar bill to mark the passage of another year. In the late 1980s Gail moved to Bloomfield, proof that “Happy Acres” traveled with her as a state of mind. She had a 25-year career as Director of Senior Services at Interfaith Homes in Bloomfield.
She retired and moved to Groton Long Point, where she settled gracefully into the embrace of the three generations of descendants, both direct and extended, that she cared for with a gentle wisdom that a life well-lived and an unshakable faith graced her with. She brought perspective to the most difficult situations that allowed friends and family to be renewed with hope and to return to life knowing they were fully supported. Gail was a blessing to everyone who came into her presence.
She was predeceased by son Patrick Tyler; brothers, James P. and Jack Hobert; sisters, Margo Letellier and Susan Tremble; brother-in-law Andy Noel; and son-in-law, John Gallagher.
She is survived by children, Gay Gallagher, Kathleen Tyler, Grant Tyler Jr., Michael and Patricia Tyler, Marie and Richard “Kip” Wiley, Thomas Tyler, Suzanne and Gregory Scheurer, Daniel Tyler and Matthew and Gina Tyler; 20 grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren. Also left behind are sister-inlaw Rosalie Hobert; sister Clare “Bunny” Noel; brother-in-law James Tremble; brother Patrick and Judith Hobert; sister Mary and John Auth; brother Jerome T. Hobert; and sisterin-law Fern Tyler Steiger; and scores of nieces and nephews.
Funeral arrangements are private, and a celebration of life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Smilow Cancer Center at Yale New Haven Hospital or The Arc of Connecticut.