In Memoriam

Gail Reid Freehafer
1940-2025

COOPERSTOWN—Gail Reid Freehafer died on Thursday, October 2 at home in Cooperstown, New York. We’ve lost our beautiful mother, nana and wonderful friend.

Gail Lynne Reid was born on July 25, 1940 to parents Evelyn and Herbert Reid. She grew up in the New Jersey, Philadelphia and New York City areas, moving numerous times due to her father’s career as an executive at US Rubber. One constant was their beach house on Long Beach Island, New Jersey, which she loved dearly. Their street ended at the ocean, which was problematic for the boys cruising by to catch a glimpse of Gail.

She graduated from Greenwich High School, attended Boston University and then Columbia School of Nursing, where, in addition to making lifelong friends, she met her first husband, James Elting, who was attending Columbia Medical School. They married and, after spending time in Cooperstown for his medical internship at Bassett, lived in Winter Park, Florida and Guilford, Connecticut before finally moving back to Cooperstown, the town they had fallen in love with, in 1973. They purchased Riverbrink and, in addition to assisting with her husband’s medical practice, Gail set to work transforming the home with her inimitable style while maintaining its architectural integrity.

Gail went on to establish Gail Reid Elting Interiors, designing many client and personal investment projects over the years. She was the ultimate tastemaker, seeing beauty in contemporary, traditional and antique styles, combining them exquisitely. She also found beauty in a diverse and broad group of cherished friends, who described her as generous, beautiful, outrageous, funny, and strong. Gail entertained frequently and seemingly effortlessly, usually cooking from her dog-eared and stained Julia Child cookbook. She was a knowledgeable and creative gardener, a longtime member of the Lake and Valley Garden Club, and was proud to showcase her gardens for the National Garden Club tour when they came to Cooperstown. Her decoration of Santa’s House every year, and her friendship with Santa himself, gained her much admiration and respect from her young granddaughters.

She married John Freehafer in 1985, after a many-year courtship. Together they traveled frequently, enjoyed exploring varied cuisines, and read probably a thousand books collectively.

Gail was an unapologetic feminist, and an inspiration to her daughters and granddaughters. She was a fierce defender of reproductive rights, and one of her prouder moments was marching on Washington, D.C. in 2005, joining her daughter Kim and the Texas contingent of Ann Richards and Molly Ivans in the March for Women’s Lives. She loved Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones (attending concerts in her Ferragamos). Her parties always resulted in everyone dancing with the volume UP. Her joie de vivre was genetic, with deep roots that continue to spread.

She was predeceased by her husband, John, and survived by her daughters, Kimberley Elting and her husband Stewart Cohen and Laird Elting and her husband, Jean Robert; granddaughters Teal and Reid Cohen and India and Petra Robert; her stepchildren, Peter Freehafer and his wife, Michelle, Susie Freehafer Frazier and her husband, Matt, and Lisa Freehafer.

We will celebrate Gail when the peonies bloom. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Gail’s memory to Planned Parenthood of Greater New York at  https://www.weareplannedparenthood.org/cOJVhOyrzkq4uBcxVekXFA2

As the scent of L’Air du Temps fades… to her dear friends, of which she had so many, and her family who loved her, if you are feeling sad, you know what Gail would say. Buck up.