Gayle Heatherington was a music education major at The University of Texas at Austin (1966-1969) where she studied voice and oboe.  She studied accounting at the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette where she also worked for an engineering firm as office and financial manager.  After relocating to the Chicago metropolitan area in 1981, she worked for 15 years at Grumman/Butkus Associates (G/BA), an engineering firm in Evanston, Illinois, as Marketing Coordinator and Financial Manager. 

In 1995 she co-founded the Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra with her husband, Music Director Alan Heatherington and has served as its Executive Director from that time to the present.  She worked as General Manager of the Lake Forest Symphony from 2000 to 2007.  She is currently a member of Chicago Master Singers and serves on its Board of Directors. 

She began doing graphic design in 2006 and currently offers professional graphic design services to Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Master Singers, Saint Andrew Anglican Church, Music Celebrations International as well as to such notable private clients as entertainer, Hershey Felder and Master Teacher and Conductor, Doreen Rao.

Gayle lives in Libertyville, Illinois with her husband, Alan, who is a professional musician and soon-to-be an Anglican Priest.