Gayle Anne Gehring

Gayle Anne Gehring passed on to the hands of the Lord April 19th, 2024.

It was a long battle of various infections. Having an already weakened renal system made health issues worse. Over the course of the last three months Gayle was a patient in three different hospitals. Her husband of forty years Fred Gehring, Dale Gehring (brother-in law), Terri Getchell (sister) and Assistant Pastor David Brashler were at her bedside.

Gayle was born in Alhambra, California to James and Anita Wilson, November 17th, 1946. As a toddler the Wilson’s moved to Portland, Oregon in 1951 where she attended grade school. While the Wilson’s resided on SE Brehaut Street in Clackamas County, Gayle was a Cavalier in the first graduating class of 1964, out of the new S.E. Webster Road high school. She did some college at Portland State and after three terms decided to join the workforce. Her first full time job was at Paramount Film Distributors downtown Portland. In 1969 Gayle started a career with Tektronix in Beaverton, Oregon as an Electronic Board Assembler for Oscilloscopes. She finished her career with the Color Printer Division in Wilsonville, Oregon. That group was ultimately sold off by Tek to Xerox in 2000 and Gayle retired under the Xerox banner in 2003 with 32 years of service to the Oregon Electronic Industry.

In1970 Gayle married first husband Joel Nelson, with a separation 10 years later. Fred’s marriage to Gayle started in 1983. They found each other at a car club event, the Speck Drive-in Cruise where Foster and Powell merge in SE Portland. Many more cruise dates followed. They shared a common bond with restoring collector cars and enjoyed showing them off at Cruise-In runs. This was her favorite pastime outside of work. 

One of Gayle’s passions was the restoration of certain Ford powered automobiles that have a bit of high performance to them. She loved driving them in a controlled environment like Portland International Raceway. Gayle was hooked on that kind of activity and wanted to be part of organizations that promoted safe track days, having fun at high speeds. She devoted many volunteer hours to clubs SAAC Northwest Region, Multnomah Hot Rod Council and Ford’s of The Fifties. Over the past forty years Gayle could be found at a Track or Cruise-In event grinning ear to ear after some spirited sports car driving, usually at the helm of a Shelby GT-350 or her Sunbeam Tiger

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Gayle’s other passion was her love of most animals, which meant there’s always been four legged fur babies around the Gehring household. The kitties brought much fulfillment of joy and pressure relief in our home. Many a rescued cat from shelters has been nurtured by Gayle. There hasn’t been one year in our life together without a house cat companion. One of her final wishes was to relay this to friends and family. In lieu of flowers being given as a tribute memorial, monetary gifts should go to the Oregon Humane Society in memory of Gayle Gehring, Oregon Humane Society, 1067 NE Columbia Blvd., Portland, Oregon 97211.

Gayle is predeceased by her parents James Garfield Wilson, Anita Beatrice Wilson and brother Jimmy Ralph Wilson. Gayle’s spirit is carried forward by her beloved husband Fred with sister Terri, all the co-worker buddies at Tek/Xerox, and most of all car people she teamed with in The Shelby American Auto Club. 

A celebration of life and remembrance will be held honoring Gayle wishes for a small gathering of relatives and close friends.