I was the marketing manager at the Hockey Hall of Fame for five years in the 1990s. My very first induction ceremony with the Hall was in 1992 and among the players being honoured was Bob Gainey. I remember his wife, Cathy, was able to attend the ceremony, although she was clearly in the midst of her battle with cancer. She would succumb to the disease in 1995.
While I had met the entire Gainey family over the years – son Steven and daughters Anna, Laura and Colleen – I really got to know Anna, the eldest, and Colleen, the youngest, the most.
Last December, I heard the news like everyone else. A Canadian woman, tragically swept off the deck of a ship, lost at sea. To hear that it was Laura Gainey just seemed too cruel a fate for a family that had already dealt with more than its share of tragedy. The irony of it all was that, after years of turmoil, in tall ship sailing Laura Gainey had found a peace that had eluded her since her mother’s death. She was finally happy.
It’s been almost a year since that horrific accident. The Gainey family, overwhelmed by the outpouring of support it received from so many, decided to create something positive in memory of both Cathy and Laura Gainey. The Gainey Foundation was launched this past May.
The goal is to help support charitable organizations that offer environmental and arts education programs for young people. As Anna Gainey explains it, her mother had a passion for children and for Laura, becoming involved in the arts and environmental issues provided new windows and doors for her and gave her a creative outlet to channel her energy. By supporting these efforts, for the Gainey family, you are supporting the things that were dear to the two members of their family who are no longer with them. I thank the Gainey family for allowing me to tell their story. And while it is a story of tragedy, for them it now becomes a story of triumph.
For more information on their foundation, log on to www.gaineyfoundation.com.
Tune in to Christine Simpson’s interview with Bob Gainey on Hockeycentral Saturday this weekend. View the promo.
