Rosemary A. Gilliss

Rosemary A. Gilliss, age 80, passed away on June 15, 2012 at her home surrounded by her family. Mrs. Gilliss was born in McAllen, Texas on April 29, 1932. Her parents were Leo Vern Mathes and Myrle Birdie (Leonard) Mathes. Both parents and one older brother, Robert Leigh Mathes, were born in Kansas. During her life, Mrs. Gilliss asked that the following memories and remembrances be shared with her family and loved ones after her death. After graduating McAllen High School, I went to work for the local Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. I loved being a telephone operator and interacting with all customers. In those days everyone had to go through an operator to place a call. Remember "Number Please?" But about five years later Ma Bell went modern and everyone could dial their own numbers. Rosemary and her best friend worked the historic night when, at midnight, operator assistance for local calls was officially and forever ended. Not too long after that I was hired as a telephone operator at nearby Harlingen Air Force Base in Harlingen, Texas. I interviewed for the position in front of the Captain and the 1st Sergeant of the Communication Squadron. The Sergeant told me later that he had urged the Captain to hire "the tall one with dark hair and glasses." So started a wonderful journey. The Sergeant was William Samuel Gilliss--and he became my husband six weeks later. The first son, named Leo after his grandfather, was born in McAllen, Texas. When "Little" Leo was 12 months old we packed up and flew to New York City to board a Navy transport ship that took us to North Morocco. Sergeant Gilliss was already there and had quarters ready for us in the Capitol City of Rabat, Morocco. We lived there for almost a year and then were transferred further north to Sidi Slimane, Morocco--the only SAC (Strategic Air Command) base in that part of the world. Sergeant Gilliss was the 1st Sergeant there and had to fly to headquarters in Tripoli, Libya for his orders. Then, three days before Christmas 1956, the first daughter, Melanie Rose, was born at the Navy Base about 30 miles down the road. It was then called Port Lyautey, but, after all the American troops left, it went back to its original name, Kenitra. When Melanie was about nine months old, we were reassigned to Freising, Germany. We flew up there. Lovely quarters waiting for us and, on April 28, 1959, another lovely daughter, Marilyn Lynette, joined our family. We enjoyed everything about Germany. Lots of snow to play in and lots of wonderful country to visit in the spring and summer. The following summer, we all flew back to the United States on an air force transport plane. My husband was assigned to Malstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls, Montana at Malstrom AFB, where our family lived for just a few months before moving into an old ranch house in Belt, Montana. On March 5, 1961 a bouncing baby boy, William Samuel Gilliss, II joined us. When Billy was nine months old, the children and I moved to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and lived with my husband's mother for 4 months while he went to West Virginia to find us house. So then in four months we moved to Sissonville, West Virginia. Then we moved up a "holler" for a few months until we could finally move up to a large mountain in Charleston where our government housing was located. We lived there for sixteen months. Then my husband got orders to go to St. Lawrence Island off the northwest coast of Alaska. Since family was not allowed in that location, the children and I stayed in Baxter Springs, Kansas for 20 months. When my husband's Alaskan stint was over, we all moved to San Antonio, Texas and bought a house to settle down and prepare for retirement. But LIFE got in the way and we moved once more--to Midwest City, Oklahoma. My husband retired from the Air Force at Tinker AFB there in February 1966. Shortly afterward he was hired by RCA Corp. to work at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. We lived in El Paso, Texas for a few months and then moved on over to Las Cruces, New Mexico. By this time, my husband was Civil Service for the Department of Defense and I went to work there too. This was in late 1966. We travelled around the Southwest and camped in places like the Grand Canyon and Henderson Lake. We met a lot of really nice people and made a lot of long lasting friends. My husband had been Master of the Masonic Lodge when we were in Germany and also joined the Order of the Eastern Star. I, myself, have been an Eastern Star since I was 20 years old. Then my husband joined the Shrine Mounted Patrol out of Albuquerque as we had several nice riding mares. We trailered those horses all over New Mexico to parades and rodeos. It was all very exciting. But, as sometimes happens in life, you lose a love one. We were not really ready for it but my husband passed away on December 17, 1980. I continued to work at White Sands until April 1993 when I retired for good. I loved to travel and see this country. I had a great traveling companion named Cathy. We went to Hawaii twice, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida several times, and cruised to the Bahamas and to the Florida Keys. We flew to Mazatlan and to Acapulco, Mexico. We took a 30 day trip once, picking up young William in Colorado and drove to Seattle, Washington. We stopped to visit friends in Montana, in Idaho, and in Washington--and went on over into Canada for just a day trip. We then drove south along the Pacific Coast to Los Angeles--stopping to see San Francisco, the Hearst Castle and Capistrano along the way. I had another traveling companion named Maryellen with whom we took a Royal Caribbean Cruise to Mexico and a Norwegian Cruise to Alaska. I know that it must have been hard sometimes for my kids to keep track of where I was at any given time. I was told that my oldest Granddaughter, Sharlotte, was often singing about me: "She's on the road again." I have been very blessed with all four of my children, all four of my grandchildren, and all three of my great-grandchildren. Rosemary Gilliss she lived her later years here in Las Cruces except that, from 2003 to 2008, she lived in Altus, Oklahoma. She was very active in Eastern Star and was Worthy Matron twice. She was also a member of the Social Order of the Beauceant and served a term as President. She was on the Board of AARP Chapter 1230 here in Las Cruces. And she loved all her Red Hat Sisters in the Red Hat Katz #64966. Rosemary is survived by her two sons, Leo and Billy, two daughters, Melanie (husband Kenny) Evans and son Daniel, Marilyn (husband Lawrence) Vaughan and daughters, Dakotah & Haily. Granddaughter Sharlotte (husband Eddie) Tellez. Three great-grandchildren survive, Kyle and Kylia Tellez and Jordynn Skye Hackey-Vaughan. She has two surviving nieces in Houston, TX Susan (husband Rion) Cascade and Jayne Scholtz and sister-in-law Lynn Mathes of League City, Texas. Rosemary's body has been cremated at her request. A Memorial Service will be held Saturday June 23, 2012 at Hill Baptist Church, 7974 Dona Ana Rd. at 10:00 am followed by burial service at the Masonic Cemetery. PDF Printable Version