Gaynell Galus

Gaynell (“GG”, “Tack”, “Gay”) Swindle Galus, 86, of Johns Island, SC entered into eternal rest on Sunday, January 21, 2024. Her funeral service will be held Saturday, February 3, 2024 in First Baptist Church of Johns Island, 3483 Maybank Hwy. at 2:00 p.m. and will be officiated by Pastor Jack Moore. Relatives and friends will gather this summer in Lindale, Georgia for a Celebration of Gay’s Life and a graveside service at Pleasant Hope Cemetery. Local arrangements by J. Henry Stuhr, Inc., Downtown Chapel. 

Gay was born October 14, 1937, in Wax, Georgia, daughter of the late Tom D. Swindle and the late Florence Jeanette Wilkerson Swindle. She and her former husband (Gene Galus, now deceased) co-owned the Waterville Pizza Shoppe in Ohio for many years. One of the major accomplishments Gay was most proud of was completing a college degree in nutritional science and business at the age of forty-six. She had a successful and rewarding career in nutritional services in hospitals and nursing homes for thirty years in the Charleston area, retiring from Bishop Gadsen Episcopal Retirement Community. Gay was a member of First Baptist Church of Johns Island. Her hobbies included gardening, writing, storytelling, genealogy, interior decorating, cooking, jigsaw puzzling, drawing, painting, and crafting. She also could name every plant, tree and bird she encountered. Gay was fiercely passionate about family (who fondly referred to her as Aunt Tack), encouraging gatherings, especially Cousins’ Weekends in the mountains. The legacies Gay leaves behind are the many old photos she has collected and the stories she has chronicled about her childhood and the family’s history. Gay was the historian and matriarch of the Swindle family for the past few years and proudly wore the fancy tiara her niece, Brenda, made for her to wear at the family reunions. She was beloved for her sense of adventure, love of practical jokes, and her ability to make everyone feel welcomed. She had a very special bond with her great-grandson, Avery, and her grandson, Jack whom she enjoyed teaching skills, telling stories to, cooking with, and playing games with. She made every minute of being their GG count! 

As a mother, there was no other like her. Gay made every day an adventure. She planned the best birthday parties, sleepovers, and parties for any occasion for us. She was my Girl Scout leader and Joe’s Cub Scout den mother. She volunteered in our school and worked in the school library. She was the mom who would go sledding and build snowmen with us. She gave us a love of reading by reading with us every day as we were growing up. She also instilled in us a love of the Lord by taking us to church and Sunday School every Sunday and doing volunteer work at the church such as sewing all the choir robes for the Cherub Choir. And many people didn’t know that she read her Bible every single morning most of her adult life.

Gay is survived by her daughter, Candice Brown of Johns Island; son, Joe Galus (Janet); and grandson, Jack Galus all of Seabrook Island; granddaughter, Rachel Caldwell of Sumter, SC; great-grandson, Avery Throne of Palm Coast, Florida; sister, Doreen Swindle Durbin of Whittier, North Carolina; brother, Joe Swindle of Heber Springs, Arkansas; and a host of more than 70 much-loved nieces and nephews!

She was preceded in death by her beloved grandson, Justin Allen Brown; brothers: Dugan Swindle, CH Swindle, Earl Swindle, and Fain Swindle; and sisters Mary Dell Coley, Annie Bell Fulton, Lily Virginia “Dot” Moore, Maxine Andrews, Juanita Skinner, Charlotte Reynolds, Sharon Swindle, Bunice Defibaugh, and Tommie Dee Adkins.   

Memorials may be made to First Baptist Church of Johns Island, 3783 Maybank Hwy, Johns Island, SC 29455; the American Heart Association, PO Box 840692, Dallas, TX 75284; and/or the Charleston Animal Society, 2455 Remount Road, N. Charleston, SC 29406.