Gaile Marie May, nee Servi, 97, passed away Feb. 13, 2024.
She was born in 1926 in Polar, Wis., and spent the last 60 years living and working in Hinsdale.
Gaile worked for 30 years at the Hinsdale Adventist Hospital in the admissions and the development offices, and she was a longtime member of the Hinsdale Seventh-Day Adventist Church, where she volunteered as a children's Sabbath School teacher and as a greeter.
Raised in Lily, Wis., in a home with no indoor plumbing, Gaile went on to attend Emmanuel Missionary College (now Andrews University) in Berrien Springs, Michigan. She met her future husband, Harold, while working in Evanston, where he was a graduate student at Northwestern University.
Gaile had a big smile, a love of beauty and a generous spirit. Her smile lit up her face and the hearts of any who saw it. She made an elegant statement wherever she went, dressed to the nines even into her 90s. She leaves a collection of her own paintings and a well-used piano - and a legacy of artistic and musical skill - to her three grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. She also loved her cats. Through the years many found their way to her door where she fed, took care of them, and treated them as royalty.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Harold A. May, in 2009.
Gaile is survived by her son, Paul (San); her grandchildren, Ashley (Christian) Negard, Dr. Ryan (Megan) K. May and Jillian (Wade) Greenacre; her great-grandchildren, Annike, Sommer, Karsten, Summer, Spencer, Caroline, Charlotte, Juniper, Adeline and Maribelle; and her sister, Phyllis Tacket.
A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 6, at Hinsdale Seventh-day Adventist Church, 201 N. Oak St. Hinsdale.
Interment will be private at St. John's Cemetery in Oak Brook.
Brian Powell Funeral Directors of Hinsdale handled the arrangements.
