Gael Robertson Treesiwin

In Loving Memory of Gael Robertson Treesiwin

Gael Robertson Treesiwin was born on October 25, 1947 in Newton Highlands, Massachusetts to John and Janet Schwertman. The eldest of three children, Gael lived in Chicago until the tragic death of her father, who was struck by lightning in the Indiana Dunes when she was eight years old. The family moved to Cleveland Heights, Ohio, where Gael graduated high school, having become a synchronized swimmer, an excellent clarinet player, and a life-long Girl Scout.

In 1969, Gael graduated from Oberlin College with a BA in history. That December, she married Tom Drake, and together they ran the Drake Preschool for Young Children in Seattle, punctuated with camping trips to the mountains and the Olympic Coast. Gael and her entourage were sometimes referred to as “Trapper Gael and the freak patrol.” In 1973, she and Tom moved to Gifford Washington, where Gael worked as a teacher’s aide and built a stone house with help from Nettie Hoge and friends. She played guitar in a musical group called Dishpan Hands and was a charter member of Woodland Community Concerts. Committed to human rights and women’s rights, Gael helped found Alternatives to Violence, the first domestic violence organization in Stevens County, now known as Rural Resources Victims Services.

She divorced Tom in 1976 and returned to Seattle in 1983 where she worked as a corporate trainer, focusing on human relations and later started an independent consultancy, Creative Learning Services. After the economic downturn of 2008, she returned to Eastern Washington and took a position as an AmeriCorps VISTA where she helped mobilize local foodbanks into the Hunger Coalition and organized trainings in grant writing and fundraising.

Declining health forced Gael to move to Buena Vista Healthcare in 2021. There she served on the Resident Council, where she doggedly advocated for wheelchair-accessible raised flower and vegetable beds, now in place. Gael tried to participate in all the activities and outings available to her at Buena Vista, attended all the Woodland Theatre performances she could, and was devoted to her reading group of old friends who met monthly at Buena Vista.

Gael was, in every sense, a force of nature—an energetic organizer of people and events, a lover of cats, music, and community, and a woman who could bring order to even the liveliest meeting.

Her family and friends extend their heartfelt gratitude to the staff of Buena Vista Healthcare for the care and kindness they gave Gael throughout her final years. Gael is survived by her sister, Amalia Hutchison; her brother, John Hutchison; and her friend and former husband, Tom Drake. A memorial will be planned in 2027. Her music may be quiet now, but the melody of her life remains in the hearts of those who knew and loved her.