Gillian
Gillian Mackenzie Roth, my darling late daughter, was born Dec. 22nd, 1983. As you parents know, when a child is born, and you see that face, you can never imagine that the universe could ever be without them. She was the most extraordinary girl in the world. She had the most amazing childhood, filled with family, music, art, creativity and of course love. When she was born, I was born, so as you can imagine, I literally died when I lost her. No one can ever lose a child, especially like her. She had a wonderful blossoming career as an actress and a guitarist, and had been doing commercials, etc. from the age of 11 till she died at 14. It was on the way back from an audition in NYC when their car was involved in an accident and Gillian and my wife, Deborah were both killed. It was only 2 days after Gillie had recorded the theme song for her new exciting Nickleodeon show, "The Gunks", a show about a girl rock band that was loosely based on The Monkees. Gillie was so happy, I rememebr her leaving the studio, and punching the sky with glee! She was so proud of her guitar playing, but was particularly happy with how they used her singing voice as the main one on the theme song!
She was a gifted athlete, and many softball awards are named for her. She was a star pitcher, and an amazing hitter who completely dominated the league. She once hit 4 homers in a playoff game that capped off an undefeated season. At the age of 12, they tried to sneak her onto the High School team, so they could have a chance at winning the championship! She was also offered a scholarship to Johns Hopkins University at that same age, that's how brilliant she was!
She and I performed many times live, most notably the Danny Gatton tributes at Tramps in NYC, where she blew the house down, playing Tele and Slide guitar, at only 11 years old!! Parts of that can be seen on my "Masters of the Telecaster" DVD on Warner Bros.
We would regularly go on fly fishing trips, play ball and guitar together, do guitar shows together, you name it. One of the reasons I created Hot Licks was so I would not be on the road so much, and could be home to watch my girls grow, and be the best dad I could be for them.
She was the most caring child in the world, too. If she saw a mother yelling at her child on the street, she'd go right up to them and tell them "some mother YOU are!" She was always the representative for her school when someone wanted to be shown around, or if a new student needed to be made at home. That was the kind of exceptional person she was. And oh, how she loved her little sister, Lexie. Lexie has songs about the loss of Gillie and her Mother on her cd, "One Long Blink".
I could go on and on about how I love her, and the things she did, but that'll have to be in my Biography, which I am starting to write. The world is a far lesser place without her, and there will have to be another eternity for there to ever be the likes of Gillian again. I love you forever, my darling daughter, and my heart is broken for all eternity without you here.