Even as Gail grew older, and more popular in school – eventually becoming the Prom Queen – she never got distracted from her studies.  Her first husband Jack recalls when he first started getting to know the Fontenelles as a teenager in the same neighborhood. 

 

“I started spending time at the house, and I would visit with her but she would spend a lot of time in her room studying,” Jack remembers.  “That’s probably why she was Valedictorian of her high school class.” 

 

She and Jack both attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana, and both excelled academically (even though Gail would confront – for the first time in her academic career – an unthinkable set-back:  a “B” grade in one of her classes).  At USL, Gail distinguished herself and changed Jack in the process.  

 

                                                          As Jack recalls, “I remember when we were both nominated to be entered into the                                                                      honor  society. The professors would nominate five people every year to be inductees                                                              and then they would pick one person.  And so we both got nominated - and then Gail                                                                won.  In a lot of ways she changed me because I was never a great student in high                                                                        school and seeing the way she studied and being so focused really rubbed off on me.” 

 

                                                          Gary also continued to be struck by Gail’s unusual dedication as a student. 

 

“She was almost valedictorian in college. She always did more than she had to,” Gary remembers.  “She could have gotten by doing the basics but she would try to excel until it was perfect … way beyond what was required.”

 

New Mom + PhD Program = 

By her senior year, Gail had become a teaching assistant in the Psychology Department.  She wanted to pursue psychology further and decided to get a masters degree, and was accepted to the University of Tennessee.  It was there, in Knoxville, that Gail would greatly impress one of her professors, Bill Howell, who saw enormous potential in her intellectual curiosity and capacity.  Two years after Gail had completed her masters, Bill – who had now taken a position at Rice University – reached out to Gail to offer her a full scholarship to come to Rice and get her PhD.  It was an offer Gail couldn’t refuse and the basis for her moving to Houston in 1981 with Jack, now her husband.  

 

Obtaining her PhD would be the ultimate academic challenge for Gail, not just because of the rigors of her program but the competing demands of her growing family.  Her colleague and close friend in the program, Amanda Wellford, remembers: 

 

“Gail went through the coursework section for the first two years without children but to do the

PHD it’s three more years of doing all the coursework, doing independent research, supporting

the faculty and doing her own project.  She was publishing while trying to take care of two babies. 

I can picture in my head Danielle running around naked and Lauren in a pumpkin seat and Gail

is just so upbeat.  She was always so positive, upbeat and optimistic.” 

 

Gail’s professors, unaware of the juggling act happening behind the scenes, marveled at Gail’s

intellect and drive.  One of her thesis advisers, David Lane, remembers Gail as a passionate scientist and a brilliant academic, who “was just so intellectually curious and smart that even in our spare leisure time she wanted to talk about psychology.”  Dr. Lane said that she fit into the academic community so well, “you would have thought both her parents were PhDs.”  

 

                                                 While at Rice, Gail – along with Dr. Lane and Amanda Wellford – published an article in                                                         the Journal of Applied Psychology about a mistake they had discovered (called the fixed                                                       effect fallacy) being made repeatedly within previous articles of the journal.  To research                                                       their paper, Gail had to tediously review every article over the past 5 years that had been                                                       published in the journal – a task that she could only do at the library, after her husband                                                           Jack got home from work and could look after the kids.  Gail would leave the house around

                                                 7 p.m. and often didn’t get home until midnight.   

 

Earning her PhD was not just the culmination of her academic career, but set the template for the professional career that followed.  Whatever the demands of her personal life, Gail would continue to find the time for serious research and scientific inquiry.  She would publish a dozen papers throughout her busy career.