After retiring from teaching composition and literature for 30 years at Geneseo High School and Black Hawk College, Gayle began a new career researching, writing, and giving Power Point programs about local history. In 2004 she wrote a chapter in the history book Grand Excursions on the Upper Mississippi River about 19th century logging in Wisconsin and the rafting of logs to Upper Mississippi River sawmills. In 2020 she published Artist Edwin Willard Deming, A Biography (1860–1942); From Childhood a Passion to Paint Native American Traditions. Growing up on a Geneseo, IL prairie farm, he became acquainted with Winnebago children, whose families in the winter came down from Wisconsin to hunt and fish near the Deming farm. This experience influenced him to dedicate his life to capturing in his art Native American Indian traditions. In addition to the Sioux, Crow, and Blackfeet, his friends included artist Fredrick Remington and President Theodore Roosevelt.