Gail Michelle Tenney

Forever in our Hearts

Gail Michelle “Mitch” Tenney

Michelle was born in Baltimore, MD on July 15, 1956 and passed peacefully in her sleep at age 69, due to several medical issues she had been struggling with for a long time, on August 29, 2025

She is survived by her mother, Lillian Tenney, 99 years young, and her sisters – Joyce Lurz (Charles), Theresa Stafford, and Yvonne Hupp – and her brother, Michael Tenney. She was preceded in death by her father, Gale Tenney.

She had a long career working with horses in many different capacities and increasing levels of responsibility as she learned more and more – from hotwalking and general day-to-day care and feeding during summer school vacations in Charles Town, WV as a teenager to working with veterinarians there and in Maryland, assisting in surgeries and performing other functions, along with the continuing work of care and feeding. She worked with thoroughbred brood mares and foals at Sagamore Farm in Reisterstown, MD and on the farm and in the practice of a veterinarian in Glyndon, MD – both for a very long time. She also worked for another veterinarian in Reisterstown, MD. And she lived and worked with horses at another farm in Lutherville, MD. She also worked with wild mustangs at a horse sanctuary in the Black Hills in South Dakota.

In addition to her work with horses, she has also spent some summers working as a tour guide – at Custer State Park driving a jeep to and around the buffalo herds, at the Crazy Horse Memorial (both in South Dakota), driving a team of horses pulling a wagon and working at a raptor center (a sanctuary for injured birds of prey) in Alaska. She swam with manatees in Florida.

Things she loved – her retired horse, Greek Salad; her beautiful malamute dog, Hitch; her many kitties; animals and nature in general; spending time with her family and her many friends, including cooking and baking goodies for them, and including designing and baking custom cakes for family birthdays; Christmas (including special time early each Christmas Day with just her and her Mom); Murder She Wrote, old TV and movie westerns (she loved talking about the horses as much as the people); Star Trek TV show and conventions (including meeting the actors and having meals with them and driving them around); Native American pow wows (local ones and a huge one at the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana); sage and sweet grass; actual letters and cards rather than electronic communication; taking pictures; music of John Denver and Ronnie Milsap, and Native American music, and music about whales and nature.

She has written two books, one of which she had published, and many poems based on her experiences. The book she had published, Cerise and White, was about her experiences at Sagamore Farm. She went to New York many times to meet with Mr. Vanderbilt – to look through his many albums for research and just to talk to him – and to read the most recently completed sections of the book to him.

If you are inclined to make a memorial donation, please send it to Days End Farm Horse Rescue (located in Woodbine, MD) to mailing address – P. O. Box 309, Lisbon, MD 21765.

She did not attend a church, but she was very spiritual – in her words, from one of her poems –

“I often wonder who I am, and why I chose the things I love;

I know in my heart that they chose me, gifts from the Creator, up above.”

And –

“As I go back and forth, doing chores every day;

I see nature’s beauty and bounty along the way . . .

These are my simple pleasures, not so hard to find;

If you only take time, to look amongst the pines.”

She lived a full life – there were some bumps – but she had some amazing experiences.

And she was loved!