Mountain Movers and Shapers: Dr. Ginger Gabriel — An exceptionally worthwhile life

By TIM WILCOX
Special to the Alpine Mountaineer

 

A child pays attention to what her mother says – much of the time, at least. Some words of wisdom have a special resonance and find a permanent place in the child’s memory. Dr. Ginger Gabriel has never forgotten what her mother told her when she was 12 years old: “If you can change one person’s life, your own life will be worthwhile.”

This longtime Crestline resident has fulfilled that oh, so meaningful “maternal mantra” beyond anything her mother likely hoped or could’ve imagined.

Born and raised in Whittier, Ginger is a fifth-generation Southern California native with Quaker roots back East. More than 100 years ago, her great-great-grandmother took a train from Illinois and relocated to Whittier, which was then a sleepy small town. An accomplished educator, she founded a school that became Whittier College.

Drawing on a rich gene pool, Ginger was an excellent student. After graduating from La Habra High School, she attended Fullerton Junior College for two years, then enrolled at California State University, Long Beach. There she earned a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in physical education.

“I graduated from Cal State Long Beach and became interested in the Christian movement that was going on in the area then,” she says. Ginger joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ, an international ministry then headquartered at Arrowhead Springs. Another staff member, Stan Gabriel, became her husband. A veteran of the Vietnam War, he retired as an Army Lt. Colonel. Stan succumbed to COVID in 2020.

A fruitful ministry

But for many years the couple, who made Crestline their home in the early 1970s, had a fruitful ministry with Campus Crusade. Ginger traveled extensively, visiting campuses across the country and speaking to thousands of students. She also called on her English expertise to write important materials for the organization. Ginger wrote a book of women’s Bible studies as well, which was picked up by influential publishing firm Thomas Nelson. Being a Woman of God sold more than a million copies.

Away from their Crestline home from 1977 to 1981, Ginger and Stan undertook a far-flung adventure in Spain. There, based in Barcelona, they helped to pioneer Campus Crusade ministries in the wake of notorious dictator Franco’s demise. (She recently returned from a “sentimental journey” to Spain with son Steve, daughter-in-law Julie and grandson Easton.)

Back in Crestline from Barcelona, the couple cared for their three children. Greg and Lauri were adopted and Steve, the youngest, was born five weeks before the big move to Spain.

Ginger pauses for a reflective moment, then shares: “Our daughter passed away in 2012. She’d gotten involved in drugs and other stuff up here. One main reason I became a psychologist was to figure out how to help Lauri and do as much as I possibly could.”

As an added motivation, around 1990 Ginger started a community Bible study that was attended by as many as 100 local women. Some of them turned to Ginger for counseling. “I realized that I needed to learn more before I continued giving people advice and helping them figure things out in their lives,” she says. So, Ginger won a full scholarship from Liberty University in Virginia and, through intensive remote learning, earned a master’s in psychology in the late ’90s. She followed up with a doctorate from California Coast School of Psychology in Santa Ana.

Ginger had already established a practice in Crestline, renting space from Dr. Walter Bramson minutes from her home. She’d also worked for Genesis Counseling in San Bernardino. The Crestline location was primary, though, and for more than a quarter century, as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), she counseled countless adults from several mountain communities and students from area schools.

‘Love and Logic’

There’s more. Ginger connected with the highly respected program “Parenting with Love and Logic” as well its sibling emphasis, “Teaching with Love and Logic.” She factored key principles into her practice and also was hired by mountain schools and churches to present daylong workshops. “Adding it all up,” she says, “I know that I trained at least 1,400 families in ‘Parenting with Love and Logic.’” She’s now retired from being a seminar presenter and also from her formal counseling practice.

After the death of her husband, she found solace and unexpected strength in a book titled 21 Days of Deeper Prayer. “It got me through my first months of grieving and loss,” Ginger says. When COVID restrictions were lifted, she began getting together with other widows in home settings. She also participated in the grief-share group at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church in Lake Arrowhead. Eventually, the widows’ group was formed, and weekly meetings were conducted at various member homes.

According to Ginger: “We moved on to where we weren’t identifying ourselves as just widows anymore. We’re survivors. We’re KREW!” Their shared sense of humor continues to be a key characteristic of the group.

There’s even more. Ginger launched a weekly prayer meeting at fast-growing Lake Gregory Church. Typically involving 20 women and men but sometimes as many as 50 (with some children attending), the group meets every Tuesday evening.

“I’ve moved them to a New Testament kind of praying,” she says, “where we can all pray at the same time. After all, it’s God who hears our prayers. Now it’s exactly what I wanted it to be, the vision I had.”

In 2003 Ginger’s son Greg was serving with the Marines in Iraq. With her husband’s sacrifices in Vietnam fully in mind – amplified by the stories of other returning vets from several wars being disrespected, verbally abused and even attacked back here in America – she became involved with Quilts of Valor. Founded in 2003 by a service member’s mother, it soon became a national movement focused on explicitly honoring living veterans for their selfless service and sacrifices.

It’s not surprising that, with her Quaker background, Ginger is a world-class quilter. Many of her painstaking creations are on display in her lovely multilevel home. Each has its own story. But the ones that are closest to her heart have been presented to veterans in formal Quilts of Valor ceremonies. “My husband received the first quilt and son Greg the second one,” she recalls.

That was only the beginning. More than a dozen years ago, Ginger joined the national organization. She inspired members of her quilt group, who were meeting at the Crestline senior center, to produce some of their handiwork specifically for Quilts of Valor. Eventually an annual ceremony was established – appropriately on Memorial Day – at the San Moritz Lodge. Initially it was staged in the small fireside room. Inevitably, though, the crowds grew. Now the yearly observance is conducted in the capacious ballroom.

Obviously gratified by the ongoing collective effort, Ginger notes that “in the last 10 years or so, my team and I have presented 180 Quilts of Valor. We’ve been really busy!”

It seems that Dr. Ginger Gabriel has been really busy for decades: Campus Crusade for Christ, LMFT counseling, “Parenting/Teaching with Love and Logic,” widows’ support group, prayer meetings, Quilts of Valor and more. Her efforts have clearly helped to change the lives of countless individuals, couples and families. Ginger has heard that many times from people she’s encountered in town, hiking around the lake and elsewhere.

Somewhere, beyond our earthbound awareness, a mother is smiling.

 

We’ve all grown and done our work, discovering who we are now. We’re out on our own, finding our own strengths and doing things we might not be doing if we were still part of a couple. – Dr. Ginger Gabriel on members of her widows’ support group called KREW