Community to Celebrate Life, Work of Gail Rink at Memorial Service

http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/081410_gail_rink_at_memorial_service/

By William M. Macfadyen, Noozhawk Publisher

The late Hospice of Santa Barbara executive director to be honored Sunday at Courthouse Sunken Garden

The late Gail Rink, the former executive director of Hospice of Santa Barbara, will be honored in a public memorial service from 1 to 2 p.m. Sunday at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse Sunken Garden, 1100 Anacapa St.

Rink, who retired from Hospice in 2008, died July 27 during a trip to Montana to see her daughter, Dr. Elizabeth Rink. She was 66 and had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Sunday’s memorial service will celebrate the life and work of Rink, who began volunteering with Hospice of Santa Barbara in 1981. She was a social worker, then worked as director of psycho-social services as well as director of community counseling and education. She led the nonprofit organization as its executive director from 2001 until her retirement, and was a nationally recognized leader in compassionate care and grief issues.

Among those speaking at the service will be Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara; Dr. Steve Hosea, an internist and infectious disease specialist who worked with Rink to create a training series called “Finding Meaning in Medicine”; and David Selberg, executive director of Pacific Pride Foundation.

Guests are encouraged to bring flowers to place on the stage.

— Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk.

http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/081410_gail_rink_at_memorial_service/