Gayle Olsen Gittins died on June 22, 1994.
Born in Salt Lake City on June 20, 1929, she was the daughter of Ray and Ruth Carpenter Olsen. Her parents preceded her in death.Gayle graduated from East High School and received a B.S. degree at the University of Utah. She married Richard A. Isaacson. They were divorced. She later married the portraitist Alvin Gittins. He died in 1981.
Active in the community and academia, she served as president of the Salt Lake Junior league, chaired the Salt Lake Mental Health Association and was appointed to the Governor's Committee on Community Health Facilities. She enrolled in graduate studies at the University of Utah, Oxford University, England, and earned an M.A. degree in Physical and Cultural Anthropology at Columbia University. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was named Graduate Woman of the Year. Her field work in archeology, anthropology and primatology took her to the Southwest Great Basin in Southern Utah, England, France, to excavations headed by L.S.B. Leakey in East Africa, work with orangutans in Southern Borneo under Birute Galdikas, and primate research in Sri Lanka. She published numerous scientific articles and served as Executive Director of the L.S. B. Leakey Foundation.
Gayle is survived by a sister, Beverly Evans, daughter, Judy Isaacson Jacobsen and her husband, Jay, son, Peter Isaacson and a devoted friend, Thomas C. Cuthbert. This beautiful and talented woman will be deeply missed by her many friends.
Private graveside services for family and close friends will be held Sunday, June 26, at 12 noon, in the Park City Cemetery. A memorial celebration will be held on July 15, at 6:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Auditorium at the University of Utah. Funeral directors, Eastman's Evans & Early. Friends so wishing may make contributions in Gayle's name to the Alvin Gittins Memorial Fund, C/O Development Office, 304 Park Building, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112.
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