LEWISTON – Marguerite Winn Gay, 89, died Monday, Aug. 8, quietly at home with her family around her. She was living with her daughter’s family, Carol and Steve Moitozo at 35 Shawmut St., Lewiston.

She was a lifelong resident of Nashua and Rumney, N.H. She lived in Palm Bay, Fla., for eight years.

She was born Jan. 13, 1916, in Nashua, N.H., the eldest of the six children of Charles Thomas and Marie (O’Hearn) Winn.

Educated in the Nashua schools, she graduated from Nashua High School, Class of 1934. She attended Nashua Memorial Hospital School of Nursing before marrying her high school sweetheart, Arthur Evans Gay Sr., on May 5, 1934, in Lexington, Mass. She and Arthur graduated from Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, Marguerite in the Class of 1944.

Following graduation, the Gays committed themselves to Christian service, establishing Sunday schools in rural communities in Vermont under the American Sunday School Union. In 1950, she and Arthur became charter members of a new church, Trinity Baptist Church, Nashua, N.H. An active board member of the Christian Women’s Club Chapter of Nashua, she frequently spoke at the gatherings. She served as president of the Conservative Baptist Women’s Fellowship of New Hampshire in 1954. Many would say, “Marguerite is my spiritual mentor.” She spent her adult life teaching and encouraging groups and individuals in their personal spiritual walk with Jesus Christ.

Several of her children, Judith, Arthur Jr., C. Kimball and Carol, have served in Christian ministry. In 1982, at the age of 66, she took the trip of her lifetime to visit her missionary children, Judy in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and C. Kimball and Nora Gay and their girls in Japan. She traveled around the world alone and made friends everywhere.

She is survived by her children, Judith and Ralph Kee of Boston, Mass., Arthur Jr. and Diana Joann (Finney) Gay of McHenry, Ill., Charles Kimball and Nora (Rowan) Gay of Nashua, N.H., Shawna J. Winn of Manchester, N.H., and Carol and Steve Moitozo of Lewiston; brothers, Charles S. Winn of Manchester, N.H., and Robert Winn of Camden; a sister, Elisabeth (Winn Krym) Souda of Shrewsbury, Mass.; and her sister-in-law, Elisabeth (Gay) Sinclair of Fairhaven, Mass. She dearly loved and daily prayed for her 12 grandchildren, and 29 great-grandchildren.