Cary Bernard Gabeler ~ Class of 1972

 

Cary Bernard ~ Class of 1972

Departed ~ 2/2020

“She Loves You” sung by Cary n Thai recorded by DAW at the ’94 Clearwater Reunion.

“Pepsi Jingle” sung by Cary in Thai recorded by DAW at the 1994 Clearwater reunion.

With great sadness

Dear Friends,

This is an email I never, ever wanted to write, nor did I ever believe I would have to write. 2020 has been incredibly difficult on everyone, that goes without saying. Our family has experienced devastating losses in the last year and a half. Last June 2019, my father, Chad, and Cary’s loving husband of 36 years, passed away from cancer. This was a devastating loss for our family.

My mother, Cary was very private about her own health crises and instead chose to focus on a healing, positive mindset. Cary had been dealing with colon cancer since 2013. After my father’s passing, her health declined over the following 7 months. It is with great sadness to say that my beautiful mother, Cary passed away early February this year. The reason this news is so late is because it’s been a devastating loss for myself and my younger brother, Gabe. It’s still unbelievable writing this letter to you today. Like I said earlier, this is an email I never, ever wanted to write or share with you.

My mother and I were incredibly close. We were not only mother-daughter, but best friends and business partners. Creating Anjolie together was our greatest joy and brought us so much fun and fulfillment. We would high five throughout the day and take dance breaks to break up long periods of sitting at our shared desk. We enjoyed every success, whether it was being featured in Oprah magazine, TV interviews or just talking with our customers on the phone and hearing your personal stories.

Where does that leave Anjolie? If I’ve learned anything over the past 7 years, being a caretaker for both my parents and now navigating life after these losses, is that I have no idea what the future will bring. What I do know is that it was my mother’s (and my) greatest dream to grow this business and bring our products and mission to women all over the country and to create meaningful impact with women entrepreneurs all over the world. Anjolie has brought me so much joy and it is such a delight to be able to connect with you all through social media. I plan to keep Anjolie going, even though it’s also been incredibly painful to think about the future of Anjolie without Cary. I like to think she will help guide the future of Anjolie from wherever she is now.

This holiday season, during these strange, weird, lonely times, I hope you find connection, feel loved and know that you are not alone. I love you all and we will get through this, together, stronger than ever.

Happy (late) Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays. Oh and because it is that time of year and grief has hit me hard, I didn’t prepare for Black Friday/Cyber Monday in the way I have in the past, but I still do want to offer a Cyber Monday deal for you to shop our store. Please use code love20 for 20% off everything in our store. We are sold out of some items, but I hope to get them back in stock as soon as possible.

With love,

?Meryl

  • What a great friend! I loved her smile, laughter, and enthusiasm for life that continued in her life after ISB. Not that I am surprised, that was just Cary. RIP my friend.
  • Please send pictures (old and new), anecdotes, articles, stories and tributes to isbeings at gmail dot com