Gail Rita Manning Hogan

Gail Rita Manning Hogan, a devoted wife, proud mother and retired registered nurse in Charleston, SC, died Sunday, May 12, 2024, at the age of 86.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated for both Dr. and Mrs. Hogan at 10:30 AM, Tuesday, June 11, 2024, at St. Mary's Catholic Church, 95 Hasell Street. A reception will follow in the Parish Hall. The Rite of Committal will be private.

A flame-haired force of nature possessing boundless creativity, spot-on glamour, disarming smarts and unstoppable determination, Gail blazed a path through Charleston for the 50 years she called the city home.

Tenacious and fiery, the extraordinary self-starter wrangled a sprawling family, cared for Lowcountry women, forged lifelong friendships and rallied countless co-conspirators in the fight to keep Charleston both livable and beautiful—suffering no fools or speeding cars along the way.

Born in Salem, MA in 1937, Gail graduated from Salem High School, then from Peter Bent Brigham School of Nursing in 1958, afterward joining Massachusetts General Hospital. There she met a Boston-born resident, Edward Hogan, and in 1961, the two were married, beginning a high-flying adventure that would roll out over five children and nearly 60 years.

In 1973, when Edward was appointed chairman of neurology at MUSC, the pair relocated from Chapel Hill, NC and set about making a home on Legare Street in peninsular Charleston. Their doors were unlocked and open to all, and the consummate hostess memorably dreamed up an annual Christmas party where generations, cultures and wide-ranging interests brilliantly converged.

At the same time, Gail charged through new pursuits. After returning to nursing in women’s surgical oncology at MUSC, she delved into interludes as a real estate agent with Daniel Ravenel Sotheby’s International Realty and in the antiques field at John Gibson Antiques. She was also involved in numerous organizations, including Garden Club of Charleston, the MUSC Women’s Club, the Ansonborough Neighborhood Association and the Preservation Society of Charleston.

An avid gardener, she could raise most any orchid from a deep slumber and prevailed with the Japanese koi that populated her garden pond. Expert at needlework, she also fashioned christening dresses for her grandchildren. She had an encyclopedic knowledge of Broadway scores and triumphed on the tennis court, her formidable forehand felling many an unwitting opponent.

All the while Gail chased the endless trails of her eclectic brood of children from football fields to local stages to Army-Navy surplus stores and worked with educators to strategize academic pathways. And while her exacting standards were legion, she possessed a less broadcast soft spot, too, taking in handymen to feed them a sandwich or front them rent money and revealing stolen moments of kindness to her children’s friends.

In the 1990s, she carried her signature energy across the Atlantic, purchasing a 19th-century stone cottage with Edward in Leenane, County Galway, Ireland, and refurbishing it from its shell. For the next 25 years the two spent a large part of their time there annually, hosting friends and family and foraging for their fully Irish roots, a heritage Gail shared with her grandchildren, who knew her as Nana.

Gail’s singular mix of grace and grit was displayed on a wall of her Charleston home. A cross-stitch work of a tall ship was accompanied by the meticulously embroidered directive, “Don’t wait for your ship to come in. Swim out after it.”

Gail Rita Manning Hogan, the devoted wife of Edward Leo Hogan, was born in Salem, MA on August 2, 1937, the eldest daughter of William Manning and Abigail Connery Manning.

She is survived by her children, Patrick Hogan (Kimberly Long Killebrew), Maryellen Gibson (Reggie Gibson), Maura Hogan (Scott Watson), Timothy Hogan and Michael Hogan (Heather Hogan); her grandchildren, Emma Gibson, Katie Hogan, Peter Hogan, Sarah Margaret Gibson and Beatrice Watson; and her brother, Paul Manning. She is predeceased by her husband; her parents; and her brothers, William P. Manning and Robert Manning.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Charleston Parks Conservancy, 720 Magnolia Rd., Suite #25, Charleston, SC 29407.

Online condolences may be offered at www.CharlestonFunerals.com.  Visit our guestbook at www.legacy.com/obituaries/ charleston

Arrangements by JAMES A. MCALISTER, Inc. (843) 766-1365.