Howard W. Gamble
December 7, 1929 – June 18, 2010
After nearly six months of fighting a very difficult battle, my father passed away yesterday afternoon very peacefully with our family holding him in loving arms. Since Dad decided to end his battle with this disease just eight days ago, our family and friends gathered to shower him in the love that he shared with us over the years. We are all very sad as we try to understand a world without my Dad, but relieved that he is no longer in pain and is now free to fly with the angels. My brother, Peter, is with him now, showing him around to all the special fishing holes. I’m sure they are having a wonderful reunion!
Services will be held on Monday, June 21, at 4pm at the Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Kennebunk, Maine and on Wednesday, June 23, at 4pm at The Church of St. Andrew in Marblehead, MA.
In lieu of flowers we would appreciate donations be made to any of the following organizations;
Habitat for Humanity York County
The Memorial Fund of St. Andrew’s
We will miss my Dad so much but we also know that over the last few months he was not living the active, vibrant life he so enjoyed. We will celebrate his life by embracing the loving, compassionate spirit that made him such a special man. The whole family thanks you so much for all you have done over the months. We read each of your blog entries to him and I know he appreciated all your kind words as he prepared for his passing.
Peace be with you,
Chris
May Ward’s loving spirit live on in all of us …
May the entire Gamble family be comforted by the love that surrounds them now and always …
Considering the fact that I’m probably not far from (again) following Ward, I pray that I can have the grace that he had, and that I can enjoy just a bit of the incredible support that Joanne, Chris, and all the Gamble clan gave to Ward.
Love,
ben
as sung by our dear friend Bob Franke …
“Alleluia, the great storm is over,
Lift up your wings and fly!
Alleluia, the great storm is over,
Lift up your wings and fly!”
Thinking of you all and remembering so many special times with your entire family. We will miss Ward terribly, but know that his spirit will live on in all of you … and in us, too.
lots of love,
Leanne, Craig, Lydia & Eli
Dear Joanne and dear family!
The life and the death of your dear Ward,father and grandfather will continue to bear fruit in our lives.
His joy,hope,courage,confidence and trust have not died with him but continue to blossom in our hearts
and the hearts of the many who are connected with us in love. Peace be with you.Jutta and family.
[From Steve]
I love Ward Gamble.
I love that he was handsome and smart and charming and wore it all so lightly.
I love that part of him is a mystery to me. How a corporate helicopter engineer ever became God’s co-pilot has always puzzled and intrigued me.
I love that Ward thought George W. Bush was a disastrous president and that Barrack Obama gave us hope for the future.
I love Ward’s eyebrows.
I love that Ward loved his wife and his children without measure. And that he loved his life and moved through it with grace and gratitude.
I love that Ward and Joanne made Linda and my Saturday mornings special, for many years, meeting for coffee and breakfast at The Wayfarer to talk politics, solve the world’s problems, gossip and reflect on the joys and sorrows and absurdities of our respective lives.
I love that Ward was an avid Democrat. A compassionate man who believed in social justice.
I love that Ward and I had a fall ritual of driving to a nearby horse farm in my beater pickup truck, shovels, gloves and trash cans in tow, to collect our annual load of pungent horse manure to beef up our compost piles. Though I never went so far as to actually buy earthworms.
I love Ward’s laugh.
I love that Ward was deeply religious but never a proselytizer. I never saw him push his faith on anyone else, but he would listen patiently to those of us who harbored doubts and raised questions. He probably prayed for our lost souls behind our backs.
I love that Ward and I shared a passion for A.B. Guthrie’s “The Big Sky,” a classic novel about the American West in the mid-1800s, filled with mountain men, trappers, and explorers. We wouldn’t even have to talk about the book to honor its hold on us, just mention its title, nod our heads silently and smile.
Ward Gamble is one of those rare people I just can’t imagine the world without. I love him for that, too.
[From Linda]
I love Ward Gamble also.
I love that we met trying to save the world in Beyond War.
I love that after the Beyond War years waned and we didn’t see each other for a while, he and Joanne chose to move to Kennebunkport and reenter my life.
I love that when Ward moved to Maine he announced that he wanted to be thought of not as a priest, but a regular guy. What a guy!
I love that our Saturday breakfasts began at Chase Hill with Andre Melville.
I love the way the breakfast ritual after a while became almost like a play, working through the ups and downs and births and deaths and crashes and burns and triumphs of our respective families.
I loved seeing that turquoise watch on his wrist across the table at the Wayfarer.
I loved that Ward kept our breakfast dates faithfully through his illness right until the last two weeks of his life.
I too loved Ward’s dashing good lucks.
I loved that I could count on Ward to call me out when I made an outrageous claim- and I have made a few.
I loved that Steve and Ward would go off every fall in search of horse manure.
I loved that Ward loved me. Somehow that makes me feel better about myself and I don’t expect that to go away.
I am just simply filled with gratitude for the decade or more of close friendship with Ward and Joanne.
Ward remains one of the great men in my life.
This storm is over, but I see Ward “crossing the bar” and “meeting his Pilot face to face.”…as Longfellow said. God bless you everyone!
Pat (Brainard) Fougere
We are present with you tonight in spirit and in the joy of remembering a life so well and positively lived. We would come if Alan had not just gotten out of the hospital. We don’t want to be a distraction so we’ll keep our frailness at home and be with you just the same. Thank you for keeping us informed these past months and for your loving insights. May God’s loving presence bless and keep you all.
Love – Alan and Teddy
Though not unexpected, we are so saddened by this news. Ward was a dear friend and someone who touched the lives of so many people in wonderful ways. We will miss him greatly and send our loving thoughts to all the family.
With love to you all,
Tony & Margie
Dear Dear Gambles,
I too am so sad to learn that Ward has passed.He will forever live among us, until it is our time to join him.
I am glad his suffering has come to an end.
love to you all,
Effie
Chris and family: my response to Chris’ closing, “peace be with you” as it was to Ward’s words on so many occasions: “and also with you.”
How lucky I was to have him (and all of you) part of my life.
How lucky Peter is now to have his father with him.
Lindsay
Dearest Joanne and all the Gambles,
My deepest love and sympathies to you all. Just a year ago I was in your shoes and feeling the same loss. The relief I felt when the suffering was over got me through days that followed but your memories and the love and strength that he gave to all of you will sustain you forever. It was my honor to have known your charming and lovable husband, father, grandfather and father in law. He and Peter are smiling down on all of us.
Much Love,
Susan Q. Collins, Kelly Meggie and Casey.
Dearly beloved Joanne and that remarkable family I met in Ward’s sermons and in Ward’s and your friendship . . .
However distracted, I have from the beginning joined you all in sorrow at Ward’s long, painful struggle with cancer and his peaceful preparation for death. He was a model in dying as in life.
Perhaps no man and no family had a greater impact on my life during my more “productive” years. Ward’s dazzling love for Joanne peppered his sermons as did his love for his children. To listen was to meet and love his whole family and learn from them. His human beingness shone through his ministry and beyond. He gave us memorable phrases, ideas, deep truths from the pulpit. From conversations, courses, meetings too.
Who does not use “on tiptoe with anticipation,” first heard when Ward described how he felt flying to see Joanne during their courtship?
When Peter first fell in love with Sharon during high school, Ward noticed how much kinder he became to everyone.
On a rainy morning, Joanne asked how the kids would get to school. “They can walk,” Ward said. He often modeled reconciliation of the sexes. Ward and Joanne were both powerful and supportive of each other.
He quotel as a prayer that says it all the Baptismal prayer: “Give me an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and persevere, a spirit to know and love you and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works.” I have started almost every day with that prayer ever since.
Without fail, so easily, without a note, his sermons’ main points became perfectly clear in ten minutes. (He scared me into memorizine the few times I preached.)
The Beyond War Movement Ward and Joanne started in Marblehead and its surrounds became a second career for its members, a profouondly meaningful enrichment of our main jobs. He inspired me to do The Ropes Course without either of us knowing exactly what it was!
Thank you ceaselessly, Chris, for this blog which I learned too late how to enter. I hope it will be up awhile so I can see what I missed. You have certainly been spectacularly computer savvy and wonderful in every way through this challenging and love-filled time. I join you and your big family in gratitude and celeration of Ward’s life and in mourning.
Love, Charlotte
In the 1980s I had the privilege of working with Ward and Joanne in the Beyond War movement. Their obvious delight in each other overflowed into our group meetings, a living demonstration of a force powerful enough to end war on our planet. Rest in peace, Ward.
Dear Gambles,
We too are saddened by the news. We celebrate Ward’s life full of love, purpose, and action. We are grateful for all that he represents. It’s been 35 years since he took me to my first day of school in the US and his comforting words are clear to me still: everything will be fine; you will see.
Our thoughts are with you. Much love.
Yesterday’s memorial service at St. Andrew’s in Marblehead was a wonderful tribute to a wonderful man … so many “old” friends gathered once more to celebrate Ward’s life, love. and leadership in our community … in the words spoken and the hugs shared, his spirit was clearly there … we will miss you so dearly Ward but you have given us all such a precious gift of your time with us … you live on in the hearts of so many …