On Sunday, May 25th, the York House community gathered at the Pan Pacific Hotel in downtown Vancouver to honour Gail’s 20 years as Head of School. Parents, past-parents, students, staff, friends and alumnae were all in attendance.
The event was emceed by former Board Chair Bill Rand, and featured a special performance from Ragazza of Gail’s favourite song,”For Good”, from the musical Wicked. The two soloists were Monique Evans ’08 and Casey Wilson ’08.
The first Head Girl appointed under Gail, Shirin Foroutan ’94 and the last Head Girl, Laura Abrioux ’14, also paid tribute to Gail. Together they shared memories of their time being young students under Gail. Shirin noted that “Ms. Ruddy has seen over 1,000 girls graduate from York House”. Gail’s daughter Dr. Ginger Ruddy also said a few words on how her mother grew up valuing education and how choose this work as a way to enrich her community.
A tribute video created by YHS parents Raul Inglis and Anna Galvin was also screened:
Board Chair John Gjervan presented Gail with a power-assisted bicycle, a beautiful painting of birds, and a keepsake memory book. The final speech of the afternoon was from Gail herself:
See all the photos from the retirement party.
Portrait Sculpture of Gail Ruddy
Also shown was a sneak-peak video of the portrait sculpture created by artist Bradley Livingstone Black (livingstoneblack.com). Watch the video here. The portrait sculpture was officially unveiled on Tuesday, May 27th with Jr. School students in the Gail Ruddy Foyer: