Amy Lynn Gill: A Life Well Lived
“Keep going, no matter what” were among the very last words Amy Lynn Gill said to her teenaged daughter Hayden hours before this 49-year-old mother, daughter, wife and friend to all died at Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital in New York January 30.
Hayden Immediately promised her mom she would. And she has already proven it in numerous ways with a strength and determination beyond comprehension. Four days later, before her mom was even buried, 14-year-old Hayden kept going as part of the Red Bank Catholic Swim team that finished 5th overall in the Shore Conference Swim Meet, one of the major events for competitive high school swim teams.
Amy Lynn Gill of Locust passed away January 30 after a eight month battle with a rare form of cancer.
A memorial service will be held at Pfleger Funeral Home, Middletown on Friday, February 8, from 4 to 8 p.m. Her funeral will take place Saturday, February 10 at St. Agnes Church, Atlantic Highlands. A burial will follow immediately at Bayview Cemetery in Leonardo.
This is the first in a series that will be posted this week in VeniVidiScripto featuring stories of Amy’s life and the impact she had on all who knew her, as well as the lessons they have learned from the life she led.
Hayden, the only daughter of Amy and Brian Gill, was three years old when her mom taught her how to swim. And she’s been swimming ever since, her eyes set on being in the Olympics and bringing home Gold to the United States. With her mom’s death, Hayden is more motivated than ever to swim her best and keep going for her mom.
Amy, who earned her degree from Kean University in Union, was a collegiate swimmer herself, vying for titles and enjoying the sport that enabled her to stay fit, enjoy life and take the skills she learned from competitive swimming to keep in her everyday life.
Once she taught Hayden how to swim and recognized her natural love and talent for the sport, she knew it would always be a part of her life as well. Even before she was 14, Hayden was already certified as a lifeguard and worked this past summer at Sea Bright & Avon beaches.
Hayden swims six days a week, twice on Mondays and Wednesdays, for a part of her routine every week. The morning swims mean getting up shortly after 5 a.m. and getting to the New Jersey Race Club in Tinton Falls to her workout before heading over to Red Bank Catholic High School for her freshman classes.
Working with a coach, Hayden also regularly does all the other fitness exercises that make her the strong and formidable swimmer she is as a freshman on a team primarily made up of upper classmen. Hayden has swam the ocean mile multiple times and has been recognized as the youngest swimmer to do so.
The brave young woman, whom others say is the epitome of her mom, says she now has more desire than ever to get in the water and do her best, knowing she is doing what her mom would want. It will help her, at least a little bit, she smiles sadly, as she misses her mom.
“I think I will miss her the most when I want to tell her about my day,” Hayden said,” she was always there, always eager to hear how I did, what made me happy, what I was going to do. She was just always there for me, always had all the time to talk, to laugh…. she was just beautiful….”
Hayden will always remember the Friday she went to New York to see her mom at Sloan Kettering. She had not seen her in a about a week, she said, and she was surprised to see the change in Amy. She was prepared, and knew her mother was dying, but she was still surprised at how pale she was and she was not as lively as usual. They spoke and “She told me I would be sad for awhile,” Amy says quietly” but then she told me everything would be okay, and I have to keep going, no matter what.” And so I will. This vivacious, athletic, smiling offspring of her mother said with determination.
And Hayden Gill, 14-year-old swimmer who will one day be an Olympian swimmer, shook hands, said it was a pleasure to meet me, and prepared to get ready for a swim meet in Rutgers University.
More Stories on Amy
Amy the Friend HERE
Amy the Teacher HERE
