Gayle Sewell

Gayle Ford Sewell was born June 20, 1947 in Brookville, Pennsylvania to Ray Leonard Ford and Marjorie Olive (McFadden) Ford. She passed away on September 6, 2024 in Lawrence, Kansas, at the age of 77.

Gayle grew up in Brookville, PA. She received a Bachelor's of Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania in 1969. She spent some time after that working in San Francisco, an experience she always looked back upon fondly. After that, she moved to the Washington, DC area. While working as a public health nurse in Washington, DC she met Clint Sewell. She embraced being the bonus mom to his young daughter, teaching her to knit and making peanut butter cookies with her whenever it was their weekend to have her stay with them, and shared her enthusiasm for the Steelers if there was a game on.

Clint and Gayle moved to a farm outside Clint's hometown of Beloit, Kansas and were married in December of 1975. In 1978 they welcomed a son, Jacob. Gayle received a Master's degree in Nursing from Wichita State University with her thesis, "A History of Associate Degree Nursing Education in Kansas". She went on to be one of the founding instructors in the nursing program at Beloit's vocational-technical school, where she taught generations of nurses.

Gayle was an active member of her church communities at First United Methodist in Beloit, and Centenary United Methodist in Lawrence. After her retirement from teaching, she worked as a Parish Nurse at FUMC Beloit, and as a home health nurse for the Mitchell County Health Department.

Gayle had an enormous love of music, and actively engaged in the music community of Beloit, participating in the local music club, singing in the church choir, and playing in the church bell choir. She was an active volunteer in the Mitchell County Historical Society, participating in the walking tombstone presentations, and enjoyed diving into the historical figures, deciding on a voice and presence to present to the audience to fully immerse the audience in that historical personage's personality and historical significance to the area.

She enjoyed fiber arts, weaving, knitting, crocheting, and embroidery for something different. She was very much in favor of always having some sort of handwork with her for meetings and hanging out, and loved hunting for fun yarns to increase her stash and dream of future projects to make for friends and family.

Gayle is survived by her sister, Sheila Richards and husband Charles Richards of Brookville, Pennsylvania; her step-daughter, Krystal Sewell and husband Tim Pricer of Montpelier, Vermont; her son, Jacob Sewell and wife Alana Kramer of Lawrence, Kansas; and her grandchildren, Samuel and Lydia Sewell of Lawrence.

She was predeceased by her father, Ray Ford; mother, Marjorie (Marge) Ford; and husband, Clint Sewell.

Memorial services will be held at 1:30 PM Friday, September 27 at the Roberts Family Funeral Home in Beloit. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be given to the Centenary United Methodist Church, the Mitchell County Food Pantry, or No Kid Hungry.