Obituary: Barbara Gage

Barbara Gage, a wife and mother to evangelists and partner in their ministries, died April 10 in Houston. She was 82. Her four sons—all ordained ministers—were present at the time of her death. She was 14 when she first met her future husband Freddie at a skating rink in the Denver Harbor area of Houston. Later, on a blind date, they went to a drive-in movie. They married Sept. 1, 1950 in Houston. During a revival service at Melrose Baptist Church, where the young couple heard Evangelist Dan Vestal Sr. preach the gospel, they both made professions of faith in Christ. During his more than five decades as an evangelist, Freddie Gage traveled extensively to present the gospel to individuals on the streets, to inmates in jails and prisons, and to students at school assemblies, as well as preaching to crowds in sports stadiums and worship centers. In the early years of his ministry, he sometimes traveled 40 weeks a year, and his wife bore the responsibility for childrearing. “She was used of God to provide a home whose culture was saturated with the presence of the Lord,” said family friend Jimmy Draper, former pastor of First Baptist Church in Euless and retired denominational executive. Barbara Gage was preceded in death by her husband of 64 years in 2014. She is survived by her four sons, Daniel Gage and wife Darleen, Paul Gage and wife Susan, Rick Gage and wife Lynne, and Rodney Gage and wife Michelle; 10 grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren. Visitation will be at 1 p.m. April 20 at Rosewood Funeral Home in Humble, followed by a memorial service at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations to the Freddie Gage Liberty University Scholarship Fund. Gifts can be made payable to ReThink Life Church in Orlando, Fla., where Rodney Gage is lead pastor.