Laura "Laurie" Gayle Wyatt

Laura Gayle Wyatt, 63, died peacefully at home in Punta Gorda, Florida, surrounded by family. A three-time cancer survivor, Laura received a heart transplant at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago from heart donor Kelly Burns, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and is forever grateful to Kelly, her parents Olivia and Jackie Burns, and all the Burns family. Laura was born in Urbana, Illinois to Barbara and Kenneth Wyatt. She grew up in Ottawa, Illinois, with neighborhoods full of kids to play with. Laura valued memories of, and lessons learned from those times, which also included working alongside her parents and siblings to rehab houses for the family residence and listening to John Denver songs, which she would later sing as lullabies to her only child, a son, Golda Marian Murray (Goldie). Laura earned a B.S. with Honors in Advertising from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana where she met cherished friends Mary, Missy, Sally, a second Missy, Kathleen, the Cray brothers, and many other lifelong friends. After a year as a runner on the floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange, Laura started as a Buyer's Assistant at Foot Cone and Belding, Chicago's oldest and then second-largest advertising agency, where she met an exceptionally fun and inspiring friend for life, Stella. Laura rose to become Chicago Regional Vice President at Nielsen Media Research, where she dedicated 28 years, was named Boss of the Year, and pioneered change in corporate policy to include insurance coverage for IVF treatment in the early 1990s and gender affirming health care in the early 2000s. She was respected for her courageous perseverance and loved for her sense of humor and boundless compassion. In 1991, she married professional pianist James Murray; they later divorced and remained close friends. Despite 40 years of medical setbacks, Laurie was a distance runner with Chicago Area Runners Association (CARA), "enjoyed" Pilates and weightlifting, traveled internationally with family and friends at every opportunity, and stayed at nearly every National Park Lodge, a personal goal of hers. She also loved camping in the Michigan dunes with family and dogs and always appreciated a beautiful meal. She maintained a steadfast love for Chicago, having lived in the city 32 years, from Newberry Plaza, Lincoln Park, and Logan Square to her treasured town house off Promontory Point in Hyde Park. A Punta Gorda, FL resident for eight years, Laurie fell in with a lively, laughing, loving crowd of beautiful, kind-hearted women in her condo building on the Peace River overlooking Charlotte Harbor: Anita, Barbara, Donna, Nancy, and others. Laurie is preceded in death by her father Kenneth Wyatt and grandparents Lois and Marion Foltz and Golda and Herman Wyatt. She is survived by her son Goldie Murray, Chicago, IL; mother, Barbara Wyatt, Punta Gorda, FL; sister Rebecca (Spike) Wyatt, Gary, IN; sister Kathryn Wyatt, Olympia, WA; brother Robert (Kerrylynn ) Wyatt, Ft. Myers, FL; nephew Adam (Jessica) Patyk, Spokane, WA; niece Alexis Wyatt, The Villages, FL; niece Rachel Wyatt, Lady Lake, FL; nephew Skyler Wyatt Zimmerman, Los Angeles, CA; many beloved cousins and friends; and her 4 lb. Maltese companion, "Monet." If you would like to make a donation in Laurie's memory, please do so at Make A Gift - National Park Foundation, https://give.nationalparks.org/site/Donation2.