Gayla Loyce Vardeman Corley, 82, of Abilene died Saturday, February 19, 2022, in an Abilene hospice center. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, February 26, 2022, at Southwest Park Baptist Church in Abilene with Dr. Mike Woodard officiating under the direction of Bailey Howard Funeral Home of Clyde. Burial will follow in Clyde Cemetery. Visitation will be from 1:00 p.m. until service time on Saturday at the church.

Gayla was born November 28, 1939, in Breckenridge to Armor Gamel and Madge Mel (Phillips) Vardeman. She graduated from Albany High School. She attended Hardin Simmons University and graduated from Mary Hardin Baylor University with her Bachelor of Science in chemistry. She married Charles Kendrick Corley in Abilene on June 8, 1968. She was a lifelong resident of the Clyde/Abilene area, with the exception of 18 years spent in Zimbabwe, Africa, formerly known as Rhodesia, where she and her husband served as medical missionaries. Gayla was a member of the Southwest Park Baptist Church.

She is survived by her daughter, Fadzai Madyangove and husband Tichwona Mashambanhaka, both of Abilene; brother, Marlo Onn Vardeman and wife Victoria of Hobbs, New Mexico; sister, The Rev. Dr. Brady J. Vardeman of Abilene; grandchildren, Gayla Mashambanhaka and husband Emmanuel Hlupho and Danford Machambanhaka.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her son, Charles (Chip) Vardeman Corley and her husband, Charles, in 2019.