Gail Carrington Goldberg

Lillian Gail Carrington Goldberg, known to all simply as Gail, was born on May 27, 1944 in Atlanta, GA to Randolph and Lillian Carrington. She grew up in Decatur, GA alongside her brother Randy and her sister Ellen. Gail graduated from Decatur High School in 1962 with a who's who list of clubs and leadership positions and went on to earn a degree in Education at Wesleyan College in 1967. From her earliest days, Gail moved through the world at her own remarkable pace with a positive nature that could disarm the most pessimistic outlook with a smile, humor and abundant kindness. Her optimistic and sunny demeanor - which was impossible to ignore - imprinted on her students, friends, strangers, and family including her six grandchildren. Gail was relentlessly positive, quick to laugh, and impossible to slow down; she approached everything she loved with a full heart and unstoppable momentum.

Family and friends were the beating heart of Gail's life. She was a devoted mother to two sons, Richard and Benjamin, who darted around Tucker, GA attending every school and sporting event. Gail let her boys roam the neighborhood and would call them home with a piercing whistle - the kind you could hear from seven blocks away. Over the past thirty years, she and her husband David created a happy life together in Roswell filled with their shared love of art and dogs. Over the years, they provided a home to eight adopted dogs. She adored her daughters-in-law and doted on her six grandchildren. Gail's extended family felt the same love and attention including her nephews, nieces, great-nephews, and great-nieces. Gail channeled her boundless energy into tennis, bicycling, swimming, and especially into her deep friendships that would sustain her across every season of her life.

Gail's love of teaching was a close second to her love of family and friends. Her spirit found its highest calling in the classroom, where she spent over thirty remarkable years as an elementary school educator. Gail was an innovative teacher with a passion for early literacy who believed play was a critical tool for learning. Being a student in her class was exciting, energetic and adventurous. She left a lasting mark on the thousands of students fortunate enough to be in her classrooms.

After teaching at several schools in the Atlanta area, Gail found new ways to give back and teach during retirement. She trained her 125-pound Great Pyrenees, Biscuit, to work as a therapy dog at schools and nursing homes. Gail's passion for early literacy didn't stop in retirement. Through the Tail Waggin' Reading program, she and Biscuit provided a relaxed, low-pressure setting for young readers to practice reading aloud. Gail also collected books for elementary school students in need and distributed these throughout metro Atlanta.

From her high school years onward, she was a writer who crafted poetry and wrote cherished family histories. In retirement she wrote four books for young readers, each reflecting her lifelong love of storytelling. The books, developed with friends, her art teacher and her brother Randy, were labors of love that Gail proudly introduced at local book fairs, elementary schools and among her family and friends.

Even during a four-year battle with Parkinson's disease, Gail never lost what made her Gail. Her sense of humor stayed sharp, her positive outlook seldom wavered, and her deep love for family

and friends was front and center. The question her family and friends heard most often in her later years was simply, "When are you coming to see me?" - being together was everything to her. Her love was infectious, her laugh even more so, and both will echo long after she is gone.

After raising her family in Tucker, GA, Gail made her home in Roswell, GA with her husband David and their various dogs including Biscuit and Leo. She is survived by David; her sons Richard Jones of Chicago, IL and Benjamin Jones of Seattle, WA; her grandchildren Carson, Holt, Daisy, Noah, Addie, and Henry; her sister Ellen Carrington Morris of Richmond, VA; her nephew Brad Carrington of Atlanta, GA; her nieces Susan and Deanna of Richmond, VA; and a mountain of cherished friends from every chapter of her life - fellow educators, tennis friends, the mermaid swimming group, neighbors, and others who had the great fortune of spending time in her company. She was preceded in death by her brother, Randy Carrington.

Gail leaves behind a legacy written not just in her books, but in every child she encouraged to read, every life she brightened with a smile, and every room she made warmer simply by being in it. The world moved a little faster and shone a little brighter when Gail Carrington Goldberg was in it. To know Gail, even briefly, was to feel richer for it.

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests donations in Gail's memory to READing Paws (https://readingpaws.org/) and the Atlanta Community Food Bank (acfb.org), two causes that reflect her deep commitment to early literacy for children and to her community. A celebration of life will be held on May 30, 2026 at the River Lodge in Martin's Landing.