Gail Poklemba, Trumbull Senior Center volunteer, employee, died at 86.
Redgate-Hennessy Funeral Directors / Contributed photoTRUMBULL — When Michele Jakab began her job as Trumbull’s director of human services, it was immediately clear that help was needed at the Trumbull Senior Center. She put out a memo looking for volunteers to lend a hand, and Gail Poklemba immediately answered the call.
“She worked at the senior center as a receptionist prior to me being there,” Jakab said. “She knew the center very well and she knew all of its members. And they all knew her. She was honest, feisty and funny and at the end of the day she could always cheer you up.”
Poklemba died Feb. 9 at 86. A Bridgeport native and Trumbull resident for roughly 60 years, Poklemba volunteered not just at the senior center, but all around town. According to her obituary, she was active in the town’s Republican Party, the Trumbull Women’s Club, and the LHFD Ladies Auxiliary, of which she was member for more than 50 years.
She was also a regular volunteer with the town’s food pantry.
Those who knew her admired her commitment to community and also the energy with which she moved through life.
“Gail honestly was — I would call her a spitfire,” said Ashley Grace, an administrative assistant with the senior center. “She was the life of the party. Very funny and very witty.”
Grace said Poklemba was always willing to help out, with everything from birthday parties to calling bingo numbers.
“She was hilarious calling the bingo numbers,” Grace said. “Just so funny.”
Jakab said she was immediately impressed with how well Poklemba was to help out at the center.
“She was there when we needed her the most and we will never forget that,” she said.
Poklemba is survived by her daughters, Karen Hosking and her husband Bill, Audrey Montesi and her husband Joe, and Pamela Boushie and her husband Jim; her grandchildren, Courtney Zimmerman and her husband David, B.J. Hosking and his wife Beth, Emma Boushie, Jack Boushie, and Mackenzie Montesi; and her great grandchildren, Madeline, Eloise and Charlotte Hosking and Jackson Zimmerman.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Trumbull Food Pantry, Department of Human Services, 23 Priscilla Place, Trumbull, CT 06611. To send notes of sympathy and comfort to Poklemba’s family, visit her tribute page at www.redgatehennessy.com.