Gail Suzanne Saxon, 88, passed away peacefully on February 23, 2026, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was born January 19, 1938, in Hoisington, Kansas, to Clyde and Glenn Wilson, the third of five children in a lively and loving family.

Gail spent her childhood moving throughout Kansas as her father worked various jobs, attending schools in Wichita, Hoisington, Alexander, Garden City, and ultimately Ponca City, Oklahoma, where she graduated in 1955. Music was woven into her life from an early age. Her parents both sang, her mother played the piano, and Gail carried music in her heart wherever she went. Though disappointed when a family move caused her to miss singing in a special choir in Garden City during her senior year, she joined the glee club in Ponca City and continued doing what she loved most, singing.

After graduation, Gail returned to Hoisington to live with her grandmother (Grandma "Mom"), working as a telephone operator (her dream job) and later as a secretary at Town Hall. She often said those were some of her happiest memories.

Gail married Chet Arthur in 1958, and they welcomed three children: Jeffrey, Debbie, and Vickie. Two months after Vickie's birth, their son Jeff passed away in 1961, a heartbreak she carried for the rest of her life. After her divorce, Gail returned to Ponca City with her daughters, where music once again became part of her healing as she joined the Sweet Adelines.

It was there that a neighbor's matchmaking attempt changed everything. Gail agreed to a blind date with a young lieutenant named David Saxon, with one condition: she did not want to date a cowboy. On the evening of their first date, David arrived wearing borrowed cowboy boots after his own shoes had been dirtied at work. Gail noticed immediately but went on the date anyway. That evening began a love story that would last nearly forty years. Gail and David were married on June 7, 1968. David lovingly adopted Debbie and Vickie, and on June 20, 1969, they welcomed their son Chris, becoming the Saxon five.

Gail discovered early in their marriage that David preferred pie over cake, and from that small detail began her well-known pie-baking "career." Her kitchen became a place of comfort, welcome, and generosity. The family joined First Christian Church in Stillwater, where Gail sang in the choir and with Gospel Express, traveling as far as California and sharing her love of music in churches along the way.

Gail built a career in banking, eventually becoming a loan officer, serving faithfully in Stillwater and later in Wichita, Kansas, after the couple relocated in 1992. As empty nesters, Gail and David enjoyed traveling and working crossword puzzles together. Wherever they lived, Gail joined the church choir. Music was never far from her life.

After David's passing in 2008, Gail eventually returned to Stillwater to be near friends and family. In her later years, she made her home with her daughter Vickie and son-in-law Steve, where she enjoyed watching ducks in the pond and deer roaming the countryside. During this time, Gail endured the profound loss of her beloved daughter Debbie in 2023, another deep sorrow in a life that knew both great love and great resilience. Even as her health declined in her final months, she remained surrounded by those she loved. She celebrated her 88th birthday in January and passed peacefully in February with her son Chris by her side. Her daughter Vickie, grandchildren, and her dearest friend Julie Boersma, more like a sister than a friend, were able to visit her that day.

Gail will be remembered as generous, warm, and big-hearted. She loved deeply, welcomed freely, sang wholeheartedly, and fed people well.

She is survived by her children, Vickie and Steve Foust of Stillwater, Oklahoma, and Chris Saxon and Alesia Nossaman of Tulsa, Oklahoma; her sisters Janet Boese and Georgia Mueller; her sisters-in-law Judy Wilson and Kathie Armstrong; her grandchildren Joseph and Kristen Livergood; Jesse and Elizabeth Foust; Laura Livergood Statos and Kris Smith; Sara Morgan, Katie and Scottie Lewis; JJ and Brittany Wieczorek; Blaine Saxon; Lauren and Nik Gruschin; Madison and KJ Rush; and her many cherished great-grandchildren: Caleb, Londyn, Chloe, Logan, Catelyn, Jace, Fynn, Gabriel, Julian, Dominic, Embri Jo, Gracie, Amelia, Emersyn, Nora, Isaac, Arlo, Kaden, Koda, Ryker, Millie, Jarret, Tatum, Naomi, and London.

She was preceded in death by her beloved husband David Saxon; her son Jeffrey Arthur; her daughter Debbie Gilpin; her son-in-law Bill Gilpin; her granddaughter Heather Renee Foust; her parents Clyde and Glenn Wilson; her brother Reg Wilson; her sister Jody Shorts; and many extended family members and dear friends.

She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
"Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."


~Proverbs 31: 25-31

A funeral service celebrating Gail's life will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 28, 2026, at First Christian Church in Stillwater, Oklahoma. A graveside service at Fairlawn Cemetery will follow. Strode Funeral Home and Cremation is in charge of arrangements. In honor of Gail's love for flowers, floral tributes may be sent to Strode Funeral Home and Cremation.

The family finds comfort in the words of Psalm 100:1-2, Zephaniah 3:17, and Isaiah 66:13.