Retired Communications Workers of America officer Gail Elizabeth Rosebrook died May 4, 2024 at the age of 69.
Born Jan. 19, 1955, she grew up in a union milieu as the daughter of Melvin and Phyllis Rosebrook; her mother Phyllis — office secretary for Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 9201 — later married Del Ricks, executive director of Labor’s Community Service Agency.
Gail Rosebrook lived and breathed the union movement, and used her skill as a treasurer and bookkeeper to serve the cause of labor. While still in high school at St. Mary’s Academy in Portland, she worked for the Northwest Labor Press and also in the Local 9201 office with her mother. She also went to work for the telephone company Pacific Northwest Bell for a time. There she got involved in Local 9201 and served as its secretary-treasurer for many years (the local was later renumbered as 7901). Rosebrook was also secretary-treasurer of the Oregon State Industrial Union Council, a state federation of unions that had been in the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) before its 1955 merger with the American Federation of Labor to form the AFL-CIO. Rosebrook helped form the Oregon chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women in the early 1990s. She served as assistant treasurer of the Northwest Labor Press from 1992 to 1999. Starting in 1998, when fellow CWA member Diane Rosenbaum ran for state legislature, Rosebrook volunteered to serve as treasurer for her campaigns. She retired in 2011 after many years working as manager of the Portland regional headquarters of CWA international.
She is survived by her husband George Cheney and stepsisters Kate and Victoria.
