Gail Corrigan Kruse, 72, died April 7, 2022, at her home in Town & Country, less than a year after her husband Pat Kruse, died.

She was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1949 to John T. and Marian Duffy Corrigan and was the second of three children.

As a child, she had curly carrot-colored hair like Little Orphan Annie and a thousand freckles, which she hated. Although mischievous, she was an Irish angel of sorts. She was proud of her heritage and honored March 17 as a high holy day.

She attended grade school and high school at Catholic schools in the Detroit area, but she graduated from West Parkway High School in West County, where she met her lifetime friend, the late Nancy Messick of Kansas City. She graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in social work and started a lifetime friendship with Marcia Hart of Wilmington, North Carolina.

Gail met her husband while working at McDonnell Douglas as a marketing specialist. They were married in 1988 and inseparable after that. It is no surprise that they followed each other into the afterlife. The only time she was separated from Pat was when she traveled, often with friends and family: Italy, France, Switzerland, Ireland, England, and more.

She loved literature and she read. In mid-life, she received a master’s degree from University of Missouri – St. Louis in literature and writing. She used what she learned to create a new career in copy writing. Another love was playing her flute, which she did from early childhood onward.

She was a thoughtful person, particularly when it came to family. She took in her parents at the end of their lives and made things better. She was the confessor for her sister Peggy who also suffered from anxiety and depression. She was a volunteer at NAMI, where she shared her own experiences with mental illness.

She was the instigator and planner for many Kruse family gatherings where Pat’s ribs, etufe or chilli were always on show. She hit her stride planning her parents 50th and 60th wedding anniversaries. She even produced a video of those events.

Much of her kindness was aimed at her dogs, particularly Duffy, whose image is still on a kitchen wall in their home.She was surrounded in life and in death with a large group of friends including many she met while working at McDonnell Douglas. She kept in touch with old friends, including Carolyn Nelford and the Falconette cheerleaders of Our Lady of Fatima Grade School. And she added a new friend, Tina Kinzer, who was her caretaker in the last years of Gail’s life.

As she was dying, it was these friends and family members who returned her thoughtfulness, particularly Gail’s sister-in-law Mary Banks of St. Charles and Anita Sullivan of Kirkwood.

Gail was preceded in death by her parents; and a sister, Peggy Corrigan. A brother-in-law Mike Kruse and sister-in-law Mary Kruse. She is survived by a brother, Tom Corrigan (Lynnn) of Greensboro, North Carolina; two brothers-in-law, Steven (Christy) and Tim Kruse; two sisters-in-law, Barbara Kruse and Mary (Greg) Banks, 12 beloved nephews and nieces and 17 cousins.

Services: A memorial will be held in St. Louis at a time and place to be determined. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the National Alliance on Mental Illness in St. Louis.
www.NAMISTL.org // 314-962-4670.