Margaret Louise Gille

Margaret Louise Gille, beloved mother, sister and daughter, died on November 3, 2021 at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. She was 73 years old.

Born on October 12, 1948 in Chicago, Illinois, she and her family lived in the suburb of

Westchester until Margaret was 13 years old when they moved to Prairie Village, Kansas. She attended Shawnee Mission High School and the University of Kansas where she graduated with a Fine Arts degree. She later got her Master’s Degree in teaching at K.U.

In November 1973, she married Austin Deslauriers and they moved to London, Ontario where he pursued a PhD in psychology. Their two sons Nicholas Andre and Thomas Marc Deslauriers were born in London in 1978 and 1980. The family moved back to Kansas City after Austin got his degree and then to Great Bend, Kansas where Margaret lived until after her divorce in 1996.
She then moved back to Kansas City and went to work for the Kansas City, Kansas School District teaching ESL to high school students. Margaret loved working with her ESL students and helped many of them succeed. She befriended some of them and even visited their families in Mexico.

Margaret was a nurturing soul who cared deeply about the environment, social justice and helping the underdog. She loved gardening and helped start the first recycling center in Great Bend. For years she volunteered at Ten Thousand Villages, a fair-trade handicrafts store in Kansas.

She is survived by her son, Nick, three grandchildren Andre, Treyton and Adelayde, and by her four siblings: Frances Morse, Rachel Gille, Judith Gille and Brian Gille.

Memorial contributions may be made in Margaret’s name to the Sierra Club and may be sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary, 120 W. 13th Street, Lawrence, KS 66044.

A memorial will be planned at later date.