Obituary: Audrey Elizabeth (Kroll) Graybill

June 2, 1938 ~ April 22, 2023

Audrey Elizabeth (Kroll) Graybill, 84, a resident of Baileys Harbor, WI since 2017, died peacefully in her home on Saturday, April 22, 2023 with her son, Scott, by her side. 

She was born in Paupack, PA on June 2, 1938, the second child born to Julius Vincent Kroll and Nelle (Gumble) Kroll. Audrey’s only sibling was Dolores “Dee” Kroll who (eventually) married Lou Esposito of Byram Township in New Jersey. 

In 1954, Audrey graduated Hawley High School to go to Kutztown University in Pennsylvania where she earned a degree in education, focusing on counseling. One of her early teaching jobs was within the Pennridge School District in Perkasie, PA where she met a fellow teacher, Robert Louis Graybill, Jr.,who would soon become her husband.

Audrey and Robert began their 55-year marriage on June 18, 1960 in Hawley, PA. Six months after marrying, they left for a two-year stay in Germany, teaching children of United States Army personnel at an Army Base in Bad Kreutznach.

Subsequently, Audrey and Robert returned to Bucks County, PA where they each spent the rest of their careers as teachers. Audrey became the Head Guidance Counselor for Pennridge High School where she retired in 2000. Upon retirement, she and her husband moved back to Paupack, PA. Audrey, was devoted to passing on whatever memories she could remember about her extended family to the younger generations and was often sought out to come for a visit to regale these colorful stories.

She also organized the Gumble Family Reunion in 2000 which had approximately 300+ attendees arriving from several States. Audrey along with her sister and brother-in-law, Dolores and Lou Esposito, put together a professionally-bound keepsake book with photos and stories about the Gumble family members.

Audrey was the Secretary of the Pine Grove Cemetery from 2000 until 2016. She was also the second Secretary of the Wallenpaupack Historical Society, Vice-President, and then President for three years.

As you might have expected, genealogy was a particular love of Audrey’s as well as preserving local history from where she grew up in Paupack. She wrote and produced a dozen or so books on local history including the following; “Early History of the Wallenpaupack Valley”, “Historic Homes of Palmyra Township, Pike County, Pennsylvania”, “The Hawley Flood, May 22-23, 1942”, and “The Raging Canal, Newspaper Accounts of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, 1870-1902” which were published by WHS. She worked with Ray LaTournous and edited “Dorfliner Glass Patterns”, “Dorflinger Glass Collection of Ray LaTournous”, and “White Mills” which were published by WHS. There are many people with a few books in the Library of Congress, but seven is a pretty good number for someone who isn’t a professional writer, in particular, one who began writing most of her works at the age of 62. 

Audrey was preceded in death by her husband, Robert, on January 16, 2015. She moved to Door County a couple years later in 2017 to live closer to her son, Scott and his wife, Carrie.

Audrey’s creativity and artistic nature was evident in her oil paintings, in the afghans she crocheted, and also in the items she reupholstered. She will be missed by many and remembered for her wit, intelligence, perseverance, incredible memory and, and her care and concern for those things and people she loved. 

Audrey is survived by her one and only child, Robert Scott (Carrie) Graybill of Fish Creek; and several cousins, nieces and nephews, and their families.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; sister, Dolores “Dee” (Louis) Esposito; and other relatives.

Arrangements pending for a celebration of Audrey’s life to be held in the Fall of 2023 in Paupack, PA with details to be announced once they are confirmed. She will be laid to rest in Pine Grove Cemetery in Paupack, PA, beside her husband, Robert, and her parents.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations given in Audrey’s honor for the Wallenpaupack Historical Society (P.O. Box 345, Paupack, PA 18451 a 501(c3) organization. 

Huehns Funeral Home, Inc. & Door County Crematory LLC in Sturgeon Bay, WI and Teeter’s Funeral Chapel in Hawley, PA are assisting the Graybill family. Expressions of sympathy, memories, and photos of Audrey may be shared with her family through her tribute pages at www.huehnsfuneralhome.com and www.teetersfuneralchapel.com.