GAYLE ABAS WOOLSON

Gayle Abas Woolson, 97, of Wilmette, Illinois, born on June 2, 1913, in Crookston, Minnesota. A skilled translator, an author, and a gentle and kind woman, beloved by the innumerable children she taught public speaking and in whose moral education she had an abiding interest, Mrs. Woolson's passing on Monday is being mourned by members of the Bahá'í Faith throughout the Chicago metropolitan area, even as she is being celebrated for a lifetime of devoted service to the Faith, portions of it rendered in various parts of Latin America and at the Bahá'í World Center in Haifa, Israel. In 1954, Mrs. Woolson won particular distinction when she elected to settle in the Galapagos Islands, making her the first to bring the Faith's unifying teachings to that unique, historic, and geographically isolated archipelago. She is survived by 11 nieces, five nephews, and two sisters-in-law. Reposing at the Wm. H. Scott Funeral Home, 1100 Greenleaf Avenue, in Wilmette. Visitation Wednesday, June 1, 1 to 1:30 p.m. Funeral service at 1:30 p.m. at the funeral home. Interment immediately following at Memorial Park Cemetery, 9900 Gross Point Road, Skokie. Funeral info: 847-251-8200.