Shirley Winfree Gayle died peacefully at her Lake Charles home on May 22, 2010. She was born on July 19, 1914 in Leesville to a pioneer Vernon Parish family.
She graduated from Louisiana State Normal College, now Northwestern
State University in Natchitoches and taught at Leesville High School.
In her college years she was an accomplished student of acrobatic dance and ballet, performing for a season at Carnegie Hall in New York. In 1933 she was named “Miss
Vernon Parish” in a popular beauty pageant.
In 1937, she wed William Gedge Gayle and moved to Lake Charles where she resided until her death.
Shirley W. Gayle was predeceased by her husband; her parents, Dr. and Mrs. I.O.
Winfree of Leesville; and her brothers, Col. Owen Winfree, USAF and W. Robert “Bob” Winfree. Both brothers were highly decorated officers in the Army Air Corps in World War II, one in the European theater and the other in the Pacific.
She
is survived by her chidlren, the Rev. William Gedge Gayle Jr. of New Orleans and Beauregard Parish and his wife, Susan, Mrs. Sue Gayle Buck of San Antonio, Texas, Robert O. Gayle of Lake Charles and his wife, Carol Anne; and her sister-in-law, Edith
Slaydon Winfree of DeRidder. She is also survived by her eight grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.
A private burial service was held Sunday, May 30, 2010 at the I.O. Winfree family plot in the Leesville Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made to the Arthur L. Gayle Sr. Scholarship Fund, McNeese State University, P.O. Box 91989, Lake Charles, La. 70609-9982 or Bishop Noland Episcopal Day School, 715 Kirkman St., Lake Charles, La. 70601.