Gayle Stanwood

Gayle Stanwood, age 91, of Pequot Lakes died Saturday, April 26, 2008 at Woodland Good Samaritan Village in Brainerd. Funeral services for Gayle will be Thursday, May 1, at 1200 pm, at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Pequot Lakes, with Reverend Frank Milo officiating. Friends may visit on Wednesday, April 30, from 5-8 pm at Brenny Funeral Chapel in Baxter. Interment will be at Evergreen Cemetery in Brainerd. Memorials are preferred in lieu of flowers.

Gayle Evangeline Palmer was born April 7, 1917 in Brainerd, to Ernest A. and Gladys (Strong) Palmer. She was united in marriage to Myron D. Stanwood in Brainerd on August 24, 1935. She worked with Dorothy Morley at Mr. Eddies Beauty Shop in Brainerd for a time. She moved to the Minneapolis area, where she worked as a buyer for Powers clothing store; for Stephens Suburban Shop, selling womens clothing in Crystal; and for OBriens as a clothing buyer in downtown Minneapolis. Upon retiring and returning to the lakes area she conducted trunk showings of womens clothing and co-owned Four Generation Fashions in Nisswa and Brainerd. She also helped her son and daughter-in-law, Mike and Kathee Stanwood, with running their Country Cheese House in Pequot Lakes and, later, their Uptown Deli and Cheese House in Brainerd. She belonged to the Zonta Club in Brainerd. She loved cooking and entertaining and combined family vacations with her love of rock collecting. The fireplace in her log home is rocked with stones the family collected from all across the country on their travels.

Gayle is survived by her son, Mike (Kathee) Stanwood, of Brainerd, and their children, Andy, Kristi, and Becky Stanwood of Brainerd; her daughter, Kathlean (Dick) Cameron, of Pequot Lakes, and their children, Richard, Jr. (Lori) Cameron, of Brainerd, Terri (Jim) Spielman, of Pequot Lakes, and David (Sue) Cameron, of Pequot Lakes; great-grandchildren, Joshua (Chelle) Cameron, of Breezy Point (presently stationed in Iraq), Jacob (Trista) Cameron, of Pequot Lakes, Jessica (RJ) Rudd, of Excelsior, Ryan Cameron, of Fargo, Jenny and Alisha Spielman, of Pequot Lakes, and Amanda Spielman, of Hutchinson; several great-great-grandchildren; sister-in-laws, Phyllis Poland, of Indiana and Dorothy Stanwood, of Colorado; and many nieces and nephews. Gayle was preceded in death by her parents; by her husband, Myron in 1977; her second husband, Les Johnson in 1995; and her siblings, Murrell, Mardell, and Maurice.