Gayle Danette Perron

Gayle Perron died peacefully on February 18, 2002 among family and friends. A life long resident of San Antonio, Gayle Danette Hissner Perron was born on December 21, 1940 to Welda Wanjura Hissner and Dan W. Hissner, Jr. She graduated from Alamo Heights High School in 1958 and attended Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg Virginia. After her freshman year she traveled to Japan, spending a year at the University of Maryland Far East Division in Fukaoka where she developed a life long interest in flower arranging and gardening. Upon returning from Japan she enrolled at Trinity University and graduated in 1963. After graduation Gayle was honored by the Order of the Alamo as a Duchess in the Order's Coronations of the Queen in the Court of Beauty. She taught school for four years in the Northeast Independent School District and in 1966 married Leo F. Perron.Traveling and vacationing with her family was one of Gayle's great joys and over the years she took many trips with family and friends both abroad and at home. However, her favorite and most frequent destination was close to home to a place the family had in the Texas Hill Country on Lake LBJ at Horseshoe Bay. For twenty years she enjoyed resting and relaxing on shores of the lake and enjoying the blue bonnets in the spring and watching her family on the lake during summer and visiting their ranch in nearby Llano during the fall. Gayle developed cancer in 1974 at the age of thirty-three and over a twenty eight year period experienced several recurrences often requiring long periods of treatment and hospitalization in and out of San Antonio. Her calm determination, quiet faith and strong will to live were an inspiration to all of those who knew her. In spite of the many difficulties and the limitation imposed by her illness, she never lost her optimism and hope and at the time of her death she was in the process of remodeling her home. Her courage, her sense of humor, her warm smile and gentle manner, and yes, her endless lists, will be missed by all who knew her. Gayle was a member of Lantana Garden Club, Los Festivos, Battle of Flower Association, Junior League of San Antonio, Symphony Society, Supper Club, Cancer Center Council, San Antonio Country Club, The Argyle and The Assembly.She was preceded in death by her father Dan Hissner in 1974. She is survived by her husband Leo, her two daughters Tracy Perron Kirby and husband Dan, Patricia Perron Bowen and husband Tad, four grandchildren, Abigail, Asa and Emily Kirby and Patrick Bowen, her mother Welda Hissner, her cousin Maidie Spencer Liebmann and her aunt Dorothy Spencer.