Frances S "Fran" Gilley

Frances "Fran" Gilley, age 96, of Roseburg, Oregon, passed away on Friday, August 12, 2016, of natural causes, just worn out. She was born on February 7, 1920, in Defiance, Iowa, to Glenn and Dalia Smutz.

Fran attended grammar school in Iowa, and then they moved to Kansas in 1932, and she attended Clyde Kansas High School where she graduated in 1937. She entered Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, Kansas, in 1937. While at the University in 1939, she was accepted into the Civilian Pilots Training School, and after she received her pilots license she flew as a pilot for the Civil Air Patrol. She Graduated from Kansas Wesleyan University in 1941, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, and a Major in Home Economics. She taught Home Economics, Biology, and Science, at Kanopolis High School in Kanopolis, Kansas, for one year.

During this time WWII had started. In the spring of 1942, she left Kansas and traveled to Washington D.C., where another Kansas Wesleyan University student was entering the Navy School of Music, and that was my dad, Bruce Gilley. Mom and Dad were sweethearts back at the University and planned to marry. The war came and hurried up the plans. Fran and Bruce Gilley were married on October 21, 1942. While Bruce was at the Navy School of Music, Fran work at the U. S. Dept. of Labor in the Children's Bureau.

Bruce graduated from The Navy School of Music in May of 1943, and was shipped off as the Band Master aboard The Battleship USS Pennsylvania. Fran had to stay in Washington D.C. to wait for the birth of their first child David Edward Gilley, and then Fran moved back to Kansas while Bruce was at war in the South Pacific.

Bruce never got to see his son until he was two years old, when he got his first leave from the ship. Bruce was discharged from the Navy in 1946, at Norman Oklahoma Navy Base. They then moved back to Salina, Kansas, and waited for the second child to be born and that was me, Trudy Ann Gilley.

They left Kansas and headed west with their 22 foot house trailer and landed in Roseburg, Oregon, in the fall of 1946. With no money they had to find work, so Bruce got the job of Band Master at Roseburg Senior High School, and Fran got a job as a waitress at Club 99 south of Roseburg. Bruce played his Sax at Club 99 with a small combo. Bruce got a summer job in real estate when school was out and didn't go back to teaching; he stayed in Real Estate instead. Story is, he was so handsome and cute that the high school girls drove him nuts, silly girls. In 1949, the Gilley's went into the retail trailer house business in a small way because there were very few trailer houses being built. Remember the "Long Long Trailer" movie with I love Lucy Ball? They had that trailer on their lot, and lots of people thought Fran was Lucy.

The Gilley's established Gilley's Trailer Sales and Supplies at their North Stephens Street location, until they retired in 1989. During those years of being in business Fran was very active in all the Business Clubs and Professional Associations. She was Boss of the Year in 1975, and Woman of the Year in 1970, she was in Lady's of the Elks club, and President at one time of all the clubs, a very active lady. Their business did well and they were in the Skyline Million Dollar Club in 1977. In the early 1980s, Fran helped her husband form The Bruce Gilley Big Band. They had a lot of local musicians that played in the Band, it was very popular, and they played at the Elk's Club and all around town and at the Hilton in Eugene.

In 1989, The Gilley's purchased a motor home and started to travel, they ended up in Yuma for the winter, where Bruce again played his sax and Fran was Stage Manager at several RV Resorts. The Gilley's spent six months in Arizona, and then came back to Roseburg for the summer. Bruce had a stroke on their way to Yuma in 1998, and never recovered. He died February 1, 1999, in Yuma. Fran continued to return to Yuma in the winter, and did so until 2012.

Survivors include her daughter Trudy Harper- Harris and husband Ron; a sister, Mary and husband Andy Anderson of Michigan; a sister Peggy and husband Malcolm Brewer of Portland, Oregon; four grandchildren, Brad Harper of Medford, Oregon, Scott Gilley of Roseburg, Jason Harper and wife Becky of Beaverton, Oregon, and Tiffany Gilley of Roseburg, Oregon; and five great-grandchildren.

Preceding her in death was her husband Bruce V. Gilley; her son David E. Gilley; a brother, John Smutz of Kansas; and a sister, Ruth of Oklahoma.

Fran wanted no service to be held. A private family service will take place when we all can get together. The cremation right was held under the direction of Wilson's Chapel of the Roses and burial at Roseburg Memorial Gardens in Roseburg, Oregon. A special thank you goes out to the caregivers at Advantage Home Care and for her last days at Umpqua Rehab, and to Gail for spending so much time with Mom in her last days, and my friend Lan for being so caring and always there for me.

Mom, I miss you...