Gail joined the Victoria Junior naturalist in 1956 at the age of 12, under the mentorship of the renowned Freeman "Skipper" King. She holds a BSc majoring in Botany and held a position as a biology and botany lab instructor at the University of Victoria. She is now a grandmother, the former president of the Cowichan Valley Naturalist Society and current volunteer at the Cowichan Estuary Nature Centre. Her love for birds is contagious.