[2] She graduated from Lisbon High School in 1950,[3] and earned a bachelor's degree from Temple University and the American Baptist Institute for Christian Workers in 1955.

[4] As a young wife and mother, Gelwick lived in Berkeley, California, and she was a student at the Pacific School of Religion.

[4] Her research interests included women as nontraditional college students, math anxiety, and eating disorders.

[10][11] From 1979 to 1985, Gelwick was president of the college and University Accreditation Board of the International Association of Counseling Centers (IACC).

[28] A few weeks before her death, Gelwick learned that the remains of her cousin Stanley Willis Allen, who died at Pearl Harbor, had been identified and would be returned to the family in Maine.