Our Board has lost an angel

[Matt]

It's not easy to write this.  Our board has lost an angel. I realized today I hadn't heard from Mary Gayle, "mgk", for a long time. I did a web search, and discovered that she passed away on July 30th. There is a beautiful slideshow of her and her family, and also the video of her service at this link: Mary Gayle Krock 1941-2020

When I found this web board over 20 years ago, Mary Gayle was one of the first friends that I made here. At the time, she moderated the "Trivia" portion of the web board (the "old" board).  We started talking and became good friends. Eventually I had the honor of working on the moderating team with Mary Gayle and KC, and we worked together on film discussion, putting together Movie Nights, and finding new and inventive ways to commune in the trivia forum. Mary Gayle loved Clint, and she loved this board and the members here. She was a Clint collector, and all of the prizes we've given away here on the board were from Mary Gayle's collection. She never wanted recognition for her hard work and all that she put into the board and its membership, but those who knew her knew that she was the heartbeat of the board community.

2020 has claimed another, and this loss is felt, even if she wasn't very active on the board in recent years. RIP "mgk".  We've lost an angel, but she can now be reunited with her husband and her beloved pets.

[AKA23]

This is very sad news. I joined the board in 2000 during a time when MGK was very active on the board. I remember those times fondly, and the board definitely lost something when she stopped posting. For many years, she served alongside KC as a very integral part of helping to ensure that this board was run well. Matt joined later and is now a moderator, and he's done a great job moderating as well, but when I first joined it was KC and MGK and someone who is no longer a member here, GMAT, that ran the board. I always appreciated MGK's enthusiasm for Clint and his films, her film knowledge, and her generous spirit. When she was a moderator here for much of that time we were a much more active board, and I loved all the discussions that we had. It was a great place to learn and grow as an Eastwood fan! We had so many thought-provoking, enlightening discussions. It pains me to see that we have lost someone that had been such a special member of the Clint Eastwood web board family for so long. 

I watched the photo collage video on the funeral site, and she came across as a warm, kind, and fun loving person who enjoyed giving back to her community, which didn't surprise me at all. It kind of breaks my heart that she won't get to see Cry Macho. My condolences go out to all board members that, like me, remember her fondly. Do we know how much she kept up with his work after leaving the board, and what she thought of those films?  RIP Mary Gayle.

[Matt]

mgk and I didn't discuss Clint's later works, but I do know she was one of his first fans-- dating back to Rawhide, before even Fistful of Dollars.  She loved all of his films -- and would take plenty of joking around from me for even loving Paint Your Wagon and City Heat.  So I'm fairly certain that she would have loved everything Clint did right up to The Mule.

[Christopher]

Very sad news but thanks for posting, Matt. I got to know mgk when she moderated the board too, and I exchanged some emails with her a few years ago.