ABA GAYLE
JOURNEY
OF HOPE...
from violence to healing™
“My daughter Catherine was murdered in 1980 at the age of 19. Her murderer was sent to death row at California State Prison in San Quentin in 1982, but I continued to struggle through many years of grief, anger, and rage. In April 1992, I was directed by a loud clear voice that I must forgive the man who murdered my daughter and that I must let him know. I wrote a letter and offered forgiveness and sent blessings from the Christ in me to the Christ in him. The act of mailing this letter gave me instant release from deep anger and rage. In its place I was filled with love, joy, and peace. I was healed and knew in that instant that I did not need someone to be murdered by our government for me to have the completion I needed. I beg our government not to murder in my name, and, more importantly, not to tarnish the memory of my beautiful child, Catherine, with another senseless killing.”
Aba Gayle
Santa Rosa, California
PROFILE:
Aba Gayle recently retired from the world of health insurance sales and marketing to devote her life to spreading the message of the healing power of forgiveness. She has created the Catherine Blount Foundation to help fund her efforts. She now has a friendship with the man who murdered her daughter and visits him on San Quentin’s death row, where she has started a small prison ministry. She is active in Amnesty International, Death Penalty Focus of California, and The National Forgiveness Institute. Her two surviving children, her son Lindsay and daughter Elizabeth, are both doctors practicing in California, and she has four grandchildren.
Reprinted with permission from Not In Our Name: Murder Victims Families Speak Out Against the Death Penalty, a publication of Murder Victims Families For Reconciliation, Barbara Hood & Rachel King, Editors; MVFR
JOURNEY'S FAVORITE ABA GAYLE INTERNET SITES:
The Catherine Blount Foundation
Aba Gayle's Story -- Catherine Blount Foundation
Part of Aba Gayle's Story -- The Bannister Foundation
Mothers Who Think -- Part 1 -- The Forgiven
Mothers Who Think -- Part II -- The Forgiven
Is it Possible to Forgive After Murder
Studying Forgiveness By Everett L. Worthington, Jr.
The Gospel of Life and Capital Punishment
Have You Ever Seen a Rainbow? By Billy Ray Riggs, Death Row, San Quentin
ABA GAYLE'S DAUGHTER KATHERINE
