Gail Camlin

Gail Camlin, 84, went home to her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Saturday, March 1, 2025, from her home in Lake Junaluska, NC.

She is survived by her son, Chris Derrick; daughter, Cami Robinson and son-in-law, Shane Robinson; two grandchildren, Hannah Anderson (Bentley) and Emma Robinson; one great grandson, Owen Anderson; and a sister, Sylvia Camlin Ashcraft. She is preceded in death by her younger brother, Wallie Camlin.

Cynthia Gail Camlin was born March 7, 1940, in Danville, VA to Sarah Lesley Camlin and Theophilus Walter Camlin, Sr. In 1949, Gail moved from Florence, SC to Lake Junaluska, where she spent her childhood years and graduated from Waynesville Township High School in 1958. She lived in a number of different cities in North Carolina and Florida before finally returning to Lake Junaluska in 1995.

While Gail was extremely talented as a jewelry designer and loved to refinish furniture and restore old houses, her children often said that she had only one true hobby and profession – studying Scripture and sharing Jesus Christ with others. She served on several mission trips including ones to Israel, Mongolia and not long after 9/11, Afghanistan. Gail led a Bible study for over 25 years at her house at Lake Junaluska, taught Sunday School at a number of churches, and served a local women’s prison ministry. Even at work, her primary focus was to preach the Gospel, something she did as a teacher’s assistant in the public school system in Brevard and as a sales manager at the Cokesbury Bookstore at Lake Junaluska. While employed at Cokesbury, she published a series of Christian children’s books about Dwight the Duck and his adventures around Lake Junaluska.

Gail’s love of the Lord Jesus Christ was the motivation for all that she did and sought to accomplish on this earth. She treasured her time spent with God in His Word, and like Mary, the sister of Lazarus who sat at Jesus’s feet, Gail chose the one thing needed in life, “that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38 - 42.

A graveside service will be held at Old Bon-A-Venture Cemetery, Old Clyde Road, Clyde, NC on Saturday, March 15, 2025, at 2:00 pm, with a reception to follow at Lake Junaluska.

Memorials may be made in Gail’s honor to Haywood Hospice, 13 Haywood Office Park, Suite 107, Waynesville, NC 28785 or Samaritan’s Purse, PO Box 3000, Boone, NC 28607.

The care of Ms. Camlin has been entrusted to Wells Funeral Home of Waynesville