Sr. Gail Mary Colquhoun

List of Deceased Sisters

Date of Death 28/06/2025

   Born:                12June 1937

   Professed:        31May 1955

   Died:                28June 2025

Born in Canberra on 12^th June 1937, Gail Mary Colquhoun was the first child and only daughter of James Leslie and Neita Colquhoun and became the older sister of her brothers James and Peter.  After primary school in Canberra, Gail did her secondary school in Sydney and worked for a year as a clerk.  On 15^th November 1955, Gail joined the SMSM in Wahroonga as a postulant and on 31^st May 1956, she began her novitiate in Watsonia in Victoria and was called Sr Mary Gerard. 

After her profession on 31^st May 1958, Gail was in a new community each year until finishing her teacher’s training in 1963.   Finally in February 1964, Gail went to Asitavi in Bougainville to teach at St. Mary’s School and remained there for five years. Thus began a lifelong love for the peoples of Bougainville and Papua New Guinea.

Following courses in Theology and counselling in Sydney in 1970, Gail went to Woodend, Victoria to be the Novice Directress from 1971, a role she held until the end of 1977. During that time, the novitiate moved from Woodend to Lane Cove to Wahroonga, not to mention the novices going to Bougainville for mission experience, one of Gail’s innovations in the novitiate programme.  Gail is remembered with great affection by her novices who knew she would hold them in sacred trust and accompany them on whatever they chose to do.

Gail had a great capacity to make friends and it was during an earlier time at Woodend that made friends with local people including Mr MIchael Bradley who often came to Gail’s aid in life and in death. He is known by many SMSM as the finder of lost things and especially of parking spots.

In April 1978, Gail returned to Papua New Guinea to share her gift for formation, first with the CSN Sisters in Bougainville and later at Xavier Institute in Port Moresby.  Sr. Joyce Ann recalled “She had the gift of making each person feel valued.  She had insights into people and always saw the good.   When I was struggling at the beginning to establish the Family Life Ministry for PNG/SI, Gail was one of the few steady supporters who constantly encouraged me.”

At the end of 1981, Gail returned to Australia and prepared to go for study in USA beginning in September 1982. The courses she followed in Chicago and Milford, Ohio built on the gifts already present for formation and spiritual direction. She became an expert in teaching the Enneagram and even in these latter years when Gail’s memory was deserting her, Gail could hold a conversation and explain the Enneagram as if she had just returned from the course.  

For the rest of her life, Gail liberally shared what she had received. In June 1984, Gail returned to Papua New Guinea and worked in various parts of the country giving ongoing formation courses and retreats and assisting local congregations.  She continued in PNG even after being named a Provincial Councillor in 1988. Sharing her gifts involved a lot of travel, not just within PNG but to other parts of the Australian Province, despite Gail’s aversion to flying.

In October 1991, Gail returned to Australia and as Ongoing Formation Director, she continued to give renewals and retreats. As Sr Nive smsm reminded us “Her gifts of wisdom, gentleness, and being a good listener will always be remembered by many of us”

In 2000, Gail was once again asked to be a Provincial Councillor and continued to visit the Sisters in different countries.  At the end of her term, Gail explored new options, giving retreats in the Pacific and later in 2007, she went to the USA and Jamaica to give retreats for three months. The following year, Gail transferred to the USA to join the community of Mary’s Guesthouse, an SMSM outreach to trafficked women.  Much and all as she loved this ministry, visa problems meant that Gail had to return to Australia.

On her return in 2010, wherever Gail lived, she was always so welcoming and gave time to listen. Her particular ministry was care of the elderly, accompanying our Sisters as they moved through the stages of aging.  To this ministry, Gail brought all her gifts of compassion, good humour and sensitivity towards those experiencing loss.  As time went by, Gail experienced her own diminishment in mobility and later in her memory.

In May 2020, Gail moved to a unit in Plumpton and joined in the activities of the village, her warm personality enabling her to make friends.  Sr Margaret Tisch, a friend from their early days in Bougainville, was vital in enabling Gail to enjoy staying in her unit for as long as she did.  However, by September 2022, it was obvious that Gail needed residential care and she moved into the aged care residence in the village.  As 2025 rolled on, Gail’s condition slowly deteriorated until she was admitted to the palliative care programme on 18^th June.  In the presence of three SMSM, Gail made the final journey to meet her God on 28^th June.

Gail would be surprised to know how much her presence is valued by those who met her.  She saw herself as not only small in size but also in impact but the latter is not true. Gail had a special sensitivity for the forgotten one or the shy one.  As Sr Mary Felesi from the Solomon Islands and working in Peru wrote “Though our meetings were short, Sr. Gail left a lasting impression on me. She was a loving and kind person. Her warm smile and unique way of telling stories reflected the beautiful sister she was. She had a gentle humour in the way she spoke, and though her soft voice was sometimes hard for me to understand, I always loved listening to her.”

As we look back over Gail’s life, we appreciate how she embraced Marist simplicity, Missionary availability and a joyful living of religious commitment. 

Sr Jennifer Clarke smsm