Marylin Gayle Maxey Meenach

Gayle was born on May 6th, 1932, in Boonville, IN. She had an older brother, Bill, to whom she was devoted, and she adored her daddy. They all became even closer after the tragedy of losing Gayle’s mother at a very young age. Her father moved them to live with their paternal grandparents in Lynville, IN where Gayle was given the affectionate nickname ‘Tootsie’ and she developed her love of beautiful flowers while playing in the gardens. Gayle charmed everyone with her beautiful blue eyes, sweet smile, and quick wit.

In 1936, Gayle’s father remarried a former sweetheart, Jenavie Scott, and they moved the family to Boonville, IN. Jenavie was full of personality and passion and brought with her a very loving and large extended family. It was a dream come true for Gayle, to suddenly have all these cousins so close in age to play with. One such cousin, Katheryn Scott, became very close to Gayle and they loved each other as sisters for all their lives.

Gayle’s childhood was full of wonderful memories of living on a farm with chickens, sheep, dogs, a turkey and a cow. She would churn butter for selling to neighbors and helped with her mother’s large vegetable and flower gardens. On Decoration Day she and her brother would sell silk poppies on the street corner, to honor veterans. The poppy became her very favorite flower. Gayle also loved swimming at City Lake and going to amusement parks, and for many years she took piano lessons. She loved music and became a wonderfully talented pianist, accompanying the family on regular singalongs. These happy memories of her childhood remained very close in her heart.

Gayle went to Pikeville College in KY to get a teaching degree. She helped support herself by playing the piano for all kinds of events at the college and church. Upon receiving her teaching certificate, she remained in KY and taught 3rd grade and was also the music teacher at the school.

While teaching in Pikeville, Gayle attended a school meeting where she reconnected with a young man and fellow teacher by the name of Leon Meenach. They began dating and married on January 29th, 1955. That summer, they both attended school at the University of KY and were able to secure jobs in Lexington, KY, where Gayle continued to share her love of music with students. While living in Lexington, their first daughter, Kathy, was born. Over the next 5 years, two more daughters followed, Jenny and Kim. While being a mother and homemaker, Gayle continued to teach piano lessons in the community.

In the summer of 1967, Leon was offered a job in Georgia and the family moved to Stone Mountain, Georgia. They lived in a wonderful neighborhood, making life-long friends, and Gayle became very involved with the music and choir at their church- Memorial Drive Presbyterian.

Exploring their creative side, Gayle and Leon opened a candle and gift shop called Wax Shak. While the endeavor did not last, Gayle never stopped. She continued raising her three daughters (which was not always an easy task!), started doing substitute teaching, giving piano lessons, performing in variety programs at the elementary school and played beautifully in the DeKalb Community College Piano Ensemble for 15+ years. Once the girls were all in high school, she became a Teacher’s Assistant for the Special Ed class at Sequoia High School in Doraville, GA. Gayle also traveled with Leon on business trips to Hawaii and San Diego and the family enjoyed many vacation adventures together and trips to family reunions. Later in life, Gayle was thrilled to travel to Spain and Australia.

As their daughters made their own way in life, Gayle and Leon were soon blessed with three granddaughters: Megan, Kelsey and Tasha and thoroughly enjoyed three little girls in their lives again.

Upon retiring, Gayle and Leon moved to Locust Grove, GA where they joined Jackson Presbyterian church. Gayle sang in the choir and played piano for services. There was even a music producer from Nashville who came to hear her play the piano and recorded 3 separate CD’s of her playing classical,

romantic and Christmas music. Locust Grove is also where Gayle discovered her love of cats, as she fell hard for a wild cat named ‘Yellow’ that lived in the woods and shortly ended up living in the Meenach home!

She and Leon also bought a lake house in Jackson, GA, where many happy times were spent with family and friends. Leon named the cove ‘Gayle’s Cove’.

In 2022, Gayle moved to Opelika, AL where two of her daughters and a granddaughter live. Upon moving, Gayle became the proud Great- Grandmother of Everleigh, Addison, and Drake. She loved spending time with them, sharing her love of music and reading their favorite books together.

In her sunset years, Gayle continued playing the piano and loved reading, playing scrabble, working puzzles, and having ‘dinner & a movie’ nights. But by far… her very favorite thing was spending time with her family and friends.

Family was Gayle’s heart. She is survived by her daughters Kathy, Jenny and Kim Meenach; her granddaughters Megan James, Kelsey Hearn and Tasha Lund; her great-grandchildren Everleigh, Addison and Drake Hearn, and many beloved relatives.

Marylin Gayle Maxey Meenach was a beautiful soul who became a joyful light in the lives of all who knew her. Her life will be celebrated at a Memorial Service on Friday, June 6th, 2025 at 1:00pm First Presbyterian Church, 900 Second Avenue; Opelika, AL 36801

Flowers will be accepted or contributions in Gayle’s memory may be made to: Dementia Society of America, dementiasociety.org

BrightFocus Foundation, brightfocus.org American Cancer Society, cancer.org