The world lost a bright, shining angel on February 22, 2024. Gabrielle Claudia Ann Long, 19, of Stillwater, Oklahoma, passed away on her 19th birthday when she fell victim to a fatal hit and run driver.

Gabi was born on February 22, 2005 to her parents Steve and Danielle Long in Vancouver, Washington. The family moved to Stillwater in the summer of 2021, Gabi's junior year where she attended Stillwater High School and graduated in May of 2023. She enrolled at Oklahoma State University to pursue a degree in Graphic Arts. Gabi was a good student carrying a 3.7 GPA and taking Honors classes.

Gabi was a kid at heart, and her parents never saw her as anything more than their little girl. She had a wide-eyed wonder of the world, loved learning new things and sharing them with others. She always had a smile on her face and she lit up the room when she walked in. Her eyes shone with her love of life, and she was loved by all who knew her.

Gabi loved to draw and spent most of her free time creating characters, what her dad called her own version of anime. She had a profound love of animals, sloths and raccoons in particular, but she especially loved her cat Billy. She loved Pokemon, Dungeons and Dragons, and Anime. She had a huge collection of stuffed animals and never met a Squishmellow she didn't need to get. She always seemed to need just one more. She was a wonderful singer and sang all the time, and she loved to spend time with her family and friends.

Gabi started dating her boyfriend Caden not long after she arrived in Stillwater and they shared a deep love and respect for each other. Those who know them say they were made for each other. To Caden's family, Craig, Heather, brothers Lucah and Tristan, and grandparents Jerry and Lydia, she became the daughter they never had, and she loved them dearly.

Gabi was a combo of the best of all of us. She was smart like her older sister Alexis, would fight fiercely like her brother Gunnar and her mom for friends and family, and had creativity and a bit of a free spirit like her sister Emi, and a sense of humor like dad. She was the sweetest, kindest person you could know, and everyone who met her loved her. Her smile lit up the room and her eyes sparkled with her love of life. She loved to talk and would end the day telling her parents about her day and something new she had learned or discovered. We will miss those talks terribly.

She was such an amazing, special person and had become such a beautiful young woman, her family is so proud of who she was and this world is darker without her smile. We will miss her painfully.

Gabi is survived by her parents Steve and Danielle, her sister Alexis White and her husband Matt, and their children Grayson, Scarlett, Atticus, and Lylah, her sister Emilee, her brother Gunnar and his wife Kelleena and daughter Susie, and her grandparents Jim and Judy Rick.

Funeral services will be held at Countryside Baptist Church in Stillwater on February 29, 2024 at 2PM. Burial will follow in Fairlawn Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Stillwater Animal Welfare to honor her love for all animals.