Shirley Winfree Gayle

FIELD VICE PRESIDENT AMERICAN EXPRESS FINANCIAL SERVICES

Graduated 1969

Shirley Winfree Gayle died peacefully at her Lake Charles home on May 22, 2010. She was born on July 19, 1914 in Leesville, LA of a pioneer Vernon Parish family. She graduated from Louisiana State Normal College, now Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, LA, 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, a businessman with Kelley-Weber & Co., and moved to Lake Charles where she resided until her death. During World War II, the Gayle family relocated for almost two years to San Antonio, Texas for Gedge Gayle's military training at Ft. Sam Houston prior to his US Army service on Saipan and Guam in the Pacific Campaign.