Gail S. Smith

February 1, 2024

Gail Sharon Smith, 85 of Sugarloaf, PA, and formerly of Glen Lyon, passed away peacefully Thursday evening, February 1, 2024 at Lehigh Valley Hospital – Hazleton, PA.

Born on April 4, 1938 in Wilkes-Barre, PA, she was the daughter of the late Ralph and Elizabeth (Barshay) Wren.

Gail attended G.A.R. Memorial High School, Wilkes-Barre, and she was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, Wilkes-Barre. She worked in her early adulthood as an assistant to the elderly at Percy Browns. Later, she devoted much of her time to her grandchildren and family. She was known to keep up with the kids playing kickball, being a competitive card player, and telling a riddle at any moment. We’d like to share her favorite one that she loved to repeat daily even up to her final moments. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where are the peck of pickled peppers that Peter Piper picked?

Gail will always be known as a hero to her family. In 1974 there was a fire in an apartment building in Edwardsville. Gail got her three daughters to safety and then, without hesitation, ran to notify all of the people in the building. She knocked on every door until everyone got out. The apartment building burnt down to the ground but everyone survived.

She was welcomed into Heaven by our Lord and her brothers Norman, Ralph, and Richard Wren and her sister, Janet Reynolds among other family members and friends.

Surviving are her daughters Gail Zadora and her husband Robert, Sugarloaf, Christine Foster and her husband Harry, Hanover Township, and Norma Thompson and her husband Joe, Nanticoke, Grandchildren Krystal Zadora, Jennifer Collins and her husband Gary, Joe Thompson, Jr., Amanda Sciandra and her husband Travis, Justin Dalton and his wife Bethany, Dustin Thompson and his wife Tiffany, Shane Dalton and his wife Lyndsey, Robert Zadora, Jr. and his wife Beth, Adam Thompson and his wife Liza, and Ashley Shotwell; 23 great-grandchildren; brother William Wren, Wilkes-Barre, and favorite nephew Tony Wren and his wife Ruthann.

Funeral Services for Gail will be held Wednesday, February 7, 2024 at 11:30 am at the Corcoran Funeral Home, Inc., 20 South Main Street, Plains, PA  18705, with her Pastor, Rev. Dr. Robert Zanicky, officiating.  Interment will be held in Denison Cemetery, Swoyersville, PA.  Family and friends may call Tuesday evening from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the SPCA of Luzerne County, 524 E. Main Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702, as Gail often did.