Gail Hallmark

Gail Jean Hallmark DRAFT obituary 

GAIL JEAN (CRENSHAW, HUELSTER) HALLMARK

July 5, 1938 – August 6, 2024

            Gail Jean (Crenshaw, Huelster) Hallmark, 86, passed peacefully away on August 6, 2024, in Santa Fe, with her daughter by her bedside. She was a loved and loving family member, gifted reading teacher, successful business woman, natural-born traveler, and a people-loving friend to many. 

Gail was born in Cimarron, NM, on July 5, 1938, to Thomas Pascual “Tom” Crenshaw and Martha Irene (Page) Crenshaw. She spent her early years on ranches, but her life soon took her to Texas, Colorado and Mexico as well as a dozen towns and villages in her beloved New Mexico. She finally settled into Raton, where she’s resided for the past 50 years. 

Gail earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in teaching from Western New Mexico University. She shared her gifts as a teacher in several New Mexico towns and the Navajo Reservation before finishing her career in Raton, where she’s remembered by many students and their parents. Through the years, she also partnered with her second husband in successful enterprises in the U.S. and Mexico, where she honed her Spanish language skills. Her gregarious nature shined in summer jobs as host and guide at Capulin Volcano and Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monuments in New Mexico and at Arizona’s Palatki Heritage site.

She was preceded in death by her parents; first husband Alfred Leroy “Dutch” Huelster; second husband Cleo C. Hallmark; brother William T. “Bill” Crenshaw; and grandson Daniel Huelster.

 Survivors include daughter Vickie L. Huelster (Dan Key), of Las Vegas; sons Kim P. Huelster (Lydia), of Fritch, TX, and Michael L. “Mike” Huelster (Nora), of Amarillo, TX; brother John D. Crenshaw (Mary), of Santa Fe; granddaughters Laura M. (Huelster) Taylor (Marshall), Dalhart, TX; Jacquey Huelster, Amarillo, TX; Katy Huelster-Perez (Juan, “JP”) and great granddaughter Mia Grace Perez, Amarillo, TX; Amanda (Huelster) Elizondo (Miguel), Los Lunas; nieces Darcy Crenshaw (Steve Maurice) and Chelsea Crenshaw (Christopher Newman) and great nieces and nephew Grace, Julia and Finn Maurice, all of Santa Fe.

Her memorial is set for Saturday, August 17, at United Methodist Church, 31082 US Highway 64, Cimarron. An informal reception with light lunch is to begin at 11 a.m., followed at noon by religious services, then interment and graveside remembrance at Cimarron’s Mountain View Cemetery. 

IN LIEU OF FLOWERS Contributions may be mailed to the Raton Humane Society, P.O. Box 1321, Raton NM 87704 or made online via venmo@Raton-HumaneSociety in memory of Gail and her dog-buddy Buck, who came into her life through the Raton Animal Shelter.