Obituary of Mary Alice Gallagher

Mary Alice Gallagher Mary Alice (Kirtley) Gallagher, 100, of Lacey, died Feb. 21, 2008. She was born November 15, 1907 to Harriet (Simpson) and James Clifford Kirtley in Savannah, Missouri. In 1915 her family moved to Atlantic, IA, and Omaha, NE, where she grew up with her two brothers, Donald and James (J.N.). While in college she was a counselor at a summer camp where she met her future sister-in-law, Kathleen Gallagher, from Chicago. Her future husband, Sheridan Phillips Gallagher (Kathleen’s brother), was then employed by The Pullman Co. He moved to Port Angeles, WA, to work in the banking business. Mary Alice moved to southern California to take a teaching job. They married and settled in Port Angeles. In 1932 they had a son, Sheridan (Dan) W. Gallagher (Longview) and in 1937 a daughter, Mary Jo Moorhead (Tumwater) was born. The family lived in Port Angeles until 1942 when they moved to Seattle and then to Centralia, WA, in 1949. As a branch manager of a bank, Sheridan moved to Bellingham where they lived until retirement and they settled in Tumwater (’69) where he preceded her in death in 1980. Mary Alice was an accomplished pianist, loved sewing, reading, civic service, travel and working with children. She loved her 6 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at Longview Community Church in the chapel on Saturday, March 1 at 1PM. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Hospice or the Aaron Reibe Cancer Donation, Red Canoe Credit Union, POBox 3020, Longview, WA 98632.