Gerald Gillie

Obituary for
Gerald Ralph Gillie

A Biographical Sketch of Gerald Ralph Gillie
By Jerry Ralph Gillie at Provo, Utah,
(Begun 2004 – with the aid of scribes)

Gerald Ralph, “Jerry” as he is usually called, was born in Ogden, Utah on June 15th, 1934 the son of Boyd Budge and Phyllis Smuin Budge. His parents divorced in1935, after which Jerry and his mother resided with his grandparents, Ralph Dewey and Ray Parkinson Smuin. His first recollections were at the home his Grandparents, Ray and Ralph Smuin, on 4th Street in Ogden.

He had a delightful backyard of trees to climb, lots of fruit, and a fish pond, a wishing well, rock gardens, a loveable Irish setter to play with and the wonders of Grandpa Smuin’s taxidermy shop.

When he was seven, his mother, Phyllis, met and married Melvin Lee Gillie and the Melvin Lee Gillie family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. In 1942 adoption papers were competed for Jerry to become a “Gillie” and his last name of Budge was dropped.

Jerry’s early school years were spent in Cleveland, Ohio; Lincoln, Nebraska; Grand Rapids, Michigan; St. Louis, Missouri; and back to Cleveland again.

In Grand Rapids, Jerry was stricken with Infantile Paralysis (Polio), which put him in the hospital for nine months, followed by Rheumatic Fever, which confined him to bed at home for another three months. He skipped 1 year of school to catch up with kids his own age.

At Charles F. Bush High School, Lyndhurst, Ohio (suburb of Cleveland), he was active in school dramas and school government, having a male lead role in: “Our Miss Brooks,” and equipment manager for athletic teams.
Jerry earned money during the summer by cutting lawns, baby-sitting, bagging groceries and stocking shelves. He was selected to attend Boy’s State, held in the summer after his junior year. During his senior year, Jerry was elected as the schools’ first over all Student Body President. He was the manager of the school year book, and selected to speak at the school graduation exercises, June 1952.

After graduation from high school Jerry returned to Utah, his birth state, to attend the University of Utah. World War II and the Korean War influenced him to select a military career and he joined the Army ROTC. He was named top Cadet during his junior year and appointed Cadet Lieutenant Colonel during his senior year.

Upon graduation on 4 June 1956 he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Regular Army and entered active duty in the Infantry at Ft. Benning, GA., where he attended Basic Officer’s Instruction Course and also became a qualified Airborne Parachutist. He was advanced in rank to a First Lieutenant and received orders to Ft Lewis, WA. He served as an Infantry Platoon Leader, Company Executive Officer and Company Commander at Ft. Lewis, WA. His unit participated in maneuvers at Ft. Greeley, Alaska and at Yakima, WA.

After two years he transferred to the Transportation Corps for the remainder of his career.

Jerry served twice as Aide-de-Camp to the Transportation Commandant at Ft. Eustis, VA; He attended Harvard Business School from 1960 to 1962, receiving a Master’s Degree in Business Administration. While here he was advanced to the rank of Captain. The following year he was Commander of an Armored Personnel Carrier Company in Korea.

In 1963 he returned to attend the ‘Transportation Advanced Course’ and remained at this installation, Ft. Eustis, until 1965 as Chief of Military Personnel.

Here Jerry met Leslie and on June 7, 1965, Jerry Gillie and Leslie Gleason were married in the Salt Lake Temple. They moved to Stuttgart, Germany where he served on the Seventh Army’s Comptroller Staff. They returned to the United States where a daughter, Trina Ray was born at Ft. Meade, Maryland.

Jerry became the Operations Officer for a newly activated 519th Transportation Truck Battalion.

Leslie and Trina lived in Provo, UT one year, while Jerry’s unit was deployed to Thailand. Here Jerry was third in command under Col. Middleton of the 519th Transportation Battalion and was advanced in rank to a Major. During this stretch of duty, Jerry wrote a comprehensive history of the 519th, which is now on display at the Army Transportation Museum at Ft. Eustis, in New Port News, VA. (See Appendix)

Upon Jerry’s return home at Christmas 1967, Jerry, Leslie, and Tina moved to Arrandale, VA, Located near Washington, D.C. Here Jerry served for 18 months as a personnel management officer with the Headquarters of the Army Logistics Command. He attended the Logistics Management School at Ft. Lee and received an award for being the outstanding graduate.

Jerry left home again to serve as a Logistics Plans Officer at U. S. Army Vietnam Headquarters, Vietnam; he was also advanced to the rank of Lt. Colonel. A year after returning home he and his wife were divorced.

Moving on with life he completed Command and General Staff College in the top ten percent at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. He was then assigned as Assistant Professor of Military Science at Brigham Young University for three years.

During this time at BYU he met and married Norma Maxine (Leah) Reinhardt Burton. They were sealed in the Provo Temple on 6 April 1973. She had five children from a previous marriage, which he adopted as his own.
His final assignment was as Logistics Plans Officer at the Joint Pacific Command Headquarters, Camp Smith, at Oahu, Hawaii.

The family left for Hawaii June 30, 1974, where they resided in a townhouse in Mililani Town, Oahu, Hawaii, where they lived for the next two years. Here Jerry and Leah had one more child, Melia Raye, born on Thanksgiving Day, 1975 in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 1976 Jerry applied for retirement and the family returned to their Provo home. The children remained in Provo while Leah accompanied Jerry to Ft. Carson, Colorado, where he was honorably discharged, 30 September 1976.

Jerry attended BYU for a year intending to earn his PhD. However, double digit inflation at that time thwarted those plans. He worked as an interviewer at the Utah State Department of Employment Security for nine months specializing in serving military veterans before becoming Personnel Director of the Utah State Training School, a resident school for 1,000 mentally handicapped individuals in American Fork, UT for 10 years. A highlight of this period was his satisfaction in seeing the compassion and loving way his daughters Lori and Jeri Wyn cared for the residents during their summer employment at the Training School.

Another employment change occurred in 1990 when he went to work 10 years for the Utah State Division of Natural Resources, Fish and Game Wildlife Division, at Salt Lake City from where he retired in 2000.

Jerry had planned for a busy retirement sketching, painting and fishing before suffering a major stroke in 8 August 2001. Since 6 April 2002, Jerry has been recovering at home from stroke effects and from that time has been receiving physical therapy to aid in his recovery.

Throughout his life Jerry has been a faithful, active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served as Serviceman’s Group Leader in Korea, and Vietnam. He has served in branch presidencies and as the Branch President in Williamsburg, VA and in Germany. He was ordained a High Priest in Hawaii where he also served on the Waipahu Stake High Council. He has also served in various church teaching and axillary positions.