Gill was born and brought up in Southampton, the eldest of four children. After grammar school, she studied Latin at Leicester University before moving into a career in librarianship, specialising in cataloguing and cataloguing in university and government libraries, with spells at Southampton University, the Welsh Office in Cardiff, and Birmingham University Library.

The arrival of Charis in 1982 resulted in an initially temporary stop to librarianship, but this became permanent when she and Ian felt called to become members of Wycliffe Bible Translators and to go to Cameroon promoting literacy among the Limbum speaking people whose literacy level was relatively low. Living in a remote area required Gill to take on the role of home schooling mother and teacher to Charis and John-Mark, which she continued to do for nine years apart from a year when she and the family were on furlough back in the UK. This experience proved invaluable when, after moving back to the UK in 1999, she was asked to become the Children’s Education Coordinator for Wycliffe UK, supporting families in meeting the educational needs of their children, whatever their country of assignment. Over the years, her role expanded to supporting Wycliffe families in Europe, and to assisting them with more than the solely educational aspects of their family life. She continued in this role with great dedication until her death. She had thought about retiring, but didn’t quite make it!

Gill was first diagnosed with cancer of the breast in 1997 involving her returning to the UK from Cameroon for an operation and treatment. This appeared to have been effective, but in 2011 she needed further treatment and radiotherapy. Again this seemed to have controlled the cancer, but in 2017 it was evident that the cancer had returned and had now spread to her liver. Chemotherapy provided some respite but was ultimately unable to prevent the cancer from taking her life.