Gwen Frances York's Obituary
Gwendolyn Frances York was born December 27, 1956, in Houston, Texas, and ran into the arms of her Saviour February 14th, 2018, in Grapevine, Texas, after suffering a traumatic brain injury from falling down a staircase at DFW Airport. When she was a year old, her family moved to Garland, where she lived most of her life. Gwen graduated from South Garland High School in 1974, and attended the University of Texas at Austin. She graduated from the National Labor College in 2006. Gwen became a flight attendant with Southwest Airlines in 1980 and continued there the rest of her life.For the past ten years she has been working for the Transport Workers Union, and was a member of TWU Local 556, the union of Southwest flight attendants. Gwen was the TWU International COPE Director and a former chair of the union’s Working Women Committee. For decades Gwen was a light in TWU’s political field department. She was a deeply dedicated colleague, a force for progressive political change, and a devoted friend and mentor at the union.There are few people as beloved by all as Gwen. She was a devoted mother to her daughter Alyson, the light of her life. She took great care of her father in his final years, and was beloved by her nieces and nephews who loved going to “Camp Gwen”. Mainly, Gwen was one of the most fun people anyone ever met. Her circle of adoring fans includes many life long friends and extended family members.Gwen was predeceased by her parents, Charles Emory Williams and Marion Frances Massey Williams, with whom she is having a joyful reunion, and a brother, Charles Emory “Chuck” Williams, Jr., whom she is meeting for the first time in heaven. She is survived by daughter Alyson Reed, and her husband Blake, husband Mark York, sister Wanda Goode and her husband Scott, nieces and nephews Mac, Meg, Kate, and Charlie Goode, as well as many loving cousins and devoted friends, including Alyson’s father Steve Dunivent and Gwen’s lifelong friend Beverly Cross.A memorial service will be held at Springcreek Church, 2660 Belt Line Road, Garland, TX 75004, on Sunday, February 18th, at 3:30pm with a reception to follow. Honorary pallbearers are Susan Johnson, Lori Lochelt, Jessica Parker, Shae Christakis, Allyson Parker Lauck, and Mary Matthews, who are all Gwen’s union colleagues.She will be deeply missed by all who knew her.
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