Gail Marie (Blalock) Salinas

Gail Marie (Blalock) Salinas, of Groesbeck, passed away at Ward Hospital in Monahans, Texas on Thursday, March 30, 2023, at age 71.

Visitation will be held at Groesbeck Funeral Home, from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4, 2023.

Funeral services will be held at 12:00 Noon on Wednesday, April 5, 2023, in the Groesbeck Funeral Home Chapel, with Pastor Sonny Bever,  of the Church on the Rock in Groesbeck, officiating.  

Honorary pallbearers will be Jordyn Marie Salinas, Isaiah Cruz Salinas, Adrian Rayne Salinas, Xavier Cruz Salinas, Jeremiah Cruz Resendez, and Alicia Anahi Resendez.

Gail was born July 17, 1951, to Lester T. Blalock and Agnes Marie (Gantt) Blalock, in Mexia.   She grew up in Groesbeck and graduated from Groesbeck High School in the Class of 1969, and attended Jacksonville College.

Gail married Larry Vice on April 2, 1970 and they lived in Corsicana during their 6 years of marriage. 

Gail moved back to Groesbeck and worked at the Mexia State School over 30 years before retiring.  She then took a part-time job with Daybreak in Mexia, which turned into a full-time job, until she suffered a stroke and heart attack in 2018.  She and her sister Susan provided care for their father for several years as his health was failing.  Gail was a member of the Church on the Rock in Groesbeck.

Gail was united in marriage with Alfredo Salinas in 1983 after they met at the El Vaquero in Mexia.   She fell in love with his four sons, and instantly became “Ma” to the boys who were ages 9,8,5 and 4.  The family moved from Groesbeck to Fort Worth where they lived many years.  Gail made sure their boys could go to Texas Rangers games, Six Flags, Omni Theater, and the zoo, and they were some of her fondest memories.  

She spent many hours of her life cooking for her family, (from scratch) and they thought she was the “Best Cook Ever.”  Throughout her life, Gail thanked God for these sons and the large family they provided her.   Even though she never gave birth, God blessed her with the family she had always wanted. She welcomed the kids’ friends in and out of her house and they also called her “Ma” or “Miss Gail.”  Anyone who ever knew her knew they were loved.  Gail’s favorite word was JOY and she was the living definition of joy. 

All the boys and grandchildren considered her the “rock” of their family.   Her nieces and nephew called her Aunt Sissy (as she had always been called Sis by her dad) and admired her strength and “care-free” attitude. She was the most genuine person with the purest heart, and loved all who knew her.  However, she could get feisty if anyone messed with her family.  She refused to leave the house if her clothes were wrinkled; she wanted to make sure her hair was fixed and she had to have on her red lipstick (her favorite color.)

Gail had a BFF for the past 20 years, Vicki Lowman from Indiana, who she met on-line, and talked with every night thereafter.   She was able to make the trip to Indiana to meet her dear friend in person in 2017.   

After Gail’s health declined in 2018, she lived part of the time with granddaughters, Cynthia and Maricella and their mother Elanna, in San Antonio, and later with Alfredo, Jr. and his wife Diana in Arlington, where she attended New Beginnings Church, and travelled with them when he went to other locations to work.  Her family continued to be her world, and when the great grandbabies were born, they were her most wonderful delight.

Gail loved the Lord and loved “Praise and Worship”.  She never missed a Sunday at church while she was able to attend, and when she could had trouble walking, she never missed the service on her iPad, with her Beats headphones, singing along at the top of her lungs.

She has been preceded in death by her loving father and mother, Lester and Agnes Blalock and a baby sister, Cathy Lou Blalock.

Gail is survived by a large, loving family:  sons, Alfredo Salinas, Jr and his wife, Diana Salinas, Phillip Salinas and Mila Ruiz, Jessie Salinas, and Adam Salinas and wife Ana Salinas.  The four grandchildren, with whom she lived in her last few years and who helped care for her, are Cynthia Marie Salinas, Maricella Julissa Salinas, Alfredo Cruz Salinas, and Juan Jose Salinas; and she also had 22 more grandchildren and 20 great grandchildren, all of whom she loved.   Also, she has a sister and brother-in-law, Susan and Gary Lancaster of Fairfield and brother and sister-in-law, Stephen and Diane Blalock of Gig Harbor, Washington, and nieces and nephews.