April 13, 2019
Wenatchee WA
Gary Gillespie
THIS MORNING we set this time apart to pause and remember Pauline Marie Gillespie and a life
lived well.
I can’t do her life justice in this brief eulogy, nor will we be able to sing her praises enough at the celebration of life we will have later today. Or even at a hundred such memorials.
Her life’s work best speaks for itself. She poured herself into family and friends for nearly 93 years.
She was a choir member, pianist, saxophonist in a big band orchestra, passionate gardener, a Sunday school teacher and fashion merchandiser. But more than that she was a loving daughter, sister, aunt, wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and friend.
Let’s look at highlights of her life story and consider the character qualities that endeared her to us all.
She was born in a small eastern Washington town of Riverside, on the warm banks of the Okanogan River in 1926 to Roy and Mabel Tugaw, the first of three children.
In her early life growing up she and sister Shirley played with homemade paper dolls on the Tugaw cattle ranch on Johnson Creek in the yard behind a house her father built himself. Shirley remembers that the sisters made a pile of rocks into a playhouse and a baby goat into a house pet. Pauline adored brother Donny her entire life and was so proud of his success as an engineer.
As a young girl Pauline enjoyed reading western novels and was a top student. Her father bought her a saxophone so she could take part in the school’s music program. Her senior year she joined a dance band playing big band music on her sax at local venues long into the night. She played such songs as Sentimental Journey, Moonlight Serenade, Chattanooga Choo Choo or The Way You Look Tonight.
She graduated from Riverside High School in 1944 serving as Class President and named Salutatorian.
That year she attended Washington State University in Pullman until she decided to marry her high school sweetheart Gene Gillespie on Nov. 4, 1945. Gene just returned from service as a general enlisted soldier in the US Army, working as a typist for General MacAuthur in Japan.
They were married in the Riverside Methodist Church and honeymooned in a hotel in Wenatchee, now the Cascadian Apartments on Wenatchee Avenue.
The couple lived in Riverside in a small house they purchased not far from her parents and grandmother.
Gene worked as a machine operator at the Biles Coleman Saw Mill making in-demand lumber for the booming postwar economy from raw logs harvested in the mountains. During this time Pauline gave birth to Mike, Susan and Gary.
Then in 1956 Gene heard about an exciting opportunity in Seattle. The Boeing Aircraft Manufacturing Company needed men willing to be trained as machinists and engineers. He applied and was hired and the Gillespie family moved to the Seattle suburb of Kent.
Gene later said that he worried if he could afford the $10,000 for the three bedroom, one bath rambler on 2 and a half forested acres.
Pauline focused on raising the young children and being active in the Kent United Methodist Church. She also put her energy into making flower and vegetable beds encircling the house. In the front yard she planted white and lavender lilac bushes given to her by her father to remind her of eastern Washington. Each spring loved bringing cuttings of the sweet-smelling lilac blooms into the house.
In the summer months she often loaded the three of us kids and the family dog Princess into the 1958 sky blue Chevy and drove a half hour to Salt Water Park on Puget Sound so we could play in the sand or wade in the gentle waves.
The family enjoyed traveling back to Riverside to visit grandparents once or twice a year as well as weekend vacations to the Washington Pacific coast to beach comb or dig clams at Kalaloch or Long Beach.
In 1962 Pauline began her career in fashion merchandising when she took a job at the JC Penny store in Kent. She began as clerk then was promoted to manager and buyer. For the next 25 years she worked to fulfill the company mission “To help our customer find what she loves for less time, money and effort.”
She liked the job so much she didn’t want to retire when Gene did in 1987, but he convinced her to step down so they could have more time together. They sold the Kent home and purchased a dream house on a golf course in Covington, a newer community near by. Pauline said that she didn’t regret moving out of the Kent home because “We used up all the goodness in it.”
In Covington Pauline became a landscape architect designing a spectacular garden surrounding the house with evergreen shrubs, flowering trees and vines and every kind of flower. Gene built an arbor and three foot high boarded boxes filled with dark compost for growing corn, beans, squash and
strawberries.
Gene played his beloved golf with friends and the couple hosted grandchildren Drew, Shelley and Carol for holiday meals or on outings. Pauline met with former JC Penny co-workers for monthly lunches and became close friends with neighbors. They were active in the Cornerstone Methodist Church a few miles down the road. They enjoyed picnics in the Cascade foothills, took cross country road trips and a once in a life time group tour to Scotland.
When Gene passed away from a long illness in 2006, Pauline continued to live in the house. She missed him terribly and wrote letters to him.
In 2010 she moved to East Wenatchee to be near daughter Sue and granddaughter Carol. She lived in an independent cottage at Bonaventure Retirement Community until she moved into an apartment in “the big house” of the facility that provided all her meals and offered activities.
In the past two years she lived in Tuscany Cottage, a group home specializing in round the clock memory care. She passed away two weeks after suffering a stroke on March 2, 2019.
I was there in the final hours. At one point when we washed her face with a warm hand cloth to apply some facial cream, longtime aide Amanda commented on how fine her skin looked. She was beautiful to the end.
Gene’s brother Larry recently said that Pauline was a person beautiful on the inside as well as on the outside.
And that is what counts most.
In French the name Pauline means small one. That matches her slight stature and movie star figure that first attracted Gene when he spotted her during a basketball game as she played the sax in the pep band. Later he said, “That’s the girl for me.”
They became sweethearts and married at 18 and 19 years old.
A popular song on the radio then was “Always” by Patsy Cline. The couple agreed to make it their song.
"I'll be loving you, always
With a love that's true, always
Not for just an hour
Not for just a day
Not for just a year, but always, always."
It was her loving character that made her all the more beautiful.
The name Pauline is the feminine version of Paul, the saint who taught us about the supremacy of love.
Paul believed that the universe is backlit by a divine love that gives human experience transcendent meaning.
In chapter 13 of First Corinthians Paul revealed how to recognize divine love. It is the same kind of love that we saw expressed day in and day out of Pauline’s life.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
Patient, kind, selfless. That was Pauline, our sister, mother, grandma, relative and friend.
She was the sunshine of our life.
We basked in her love and acceptance and grew into better people because of it.
Just as sunshine and devoted care makes a garden produce bouquets of yellow daffodils, white roses or pink hydrangea so her love watered, fed and sustained our souls.
I can see her now putting on her garden shoes and gloves, kneeling on a foam cushion to weed, thin, prop up tomato saplings or prune a raspberry bush or dig trenches to plant various seeds, pumpkin, swash, corn or zucchini or carefully arrange strawberry starts for maximum growth. Just as her vegetable bed produced an abundance of food and fruit, so our lives were enriched by a loving hand and watchful eye of a gardener who never lacked faith that she would see a bounty brought forth in due season.
My mother loved the beauty of flowers and plants but we also know that she loved the beauty of music.
One of her favorite songs was “You Are My Sunshine” by Jimmie Davis.
I have a vivid memory of mom singing it to me when I was 5 years old as she tucked into bed.
“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You'll never know, dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away.”
In spite of all our pleas that light has been taken.
The sunshine has set and the stillness of night approaches.
That is when we remember that with faith comes hope.
Because as a girl she responded to the message of Jesus Christ in that Riverside Methodist church Sunday school she now rests in God’s promise of eternal life.
That’s what we believe. "Death is swallowed up in victory."
One glad daybreak we will see her again. Free of flaws, clouded mind or illness. More beautiful than before.
Pauline told me that her favorite worship song is called “I can only imagine” by Mercy Me.
“I can only imagine what it will be like
When I walk, by your side Jesus
Surrounded by Your glory
What will my heart feel ?
Will I stand in your presence
Or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing hallelujah
Will I be able to speak at all?”
Today we looked back to remember Pauline Marie Gillespie’s legacy of love and beauty. We can only imagine what eternity will hold.
Perhaps in paradise Pauline will tend the gardens or put her fashion merchandising experience to work outfitting angels.
Finally let me say, Mom
I'll be loving you, always
Not for just an hour
Not for just a day
Not for just a year, but always, always.
I’ll see you in the morning.
Wenatchee WA
Gary Gillespie
THIS MORNING we set this time apart to pause and remember Pauline Marie Gillespie and a lifelived well.
I can’t do her life justice in this brief eulogy, nor will we be able to sing her praises enough at the celebration of life we will have later today. Or even at a hundred such memorials.
Her life’s work best speaks for itself. She poured herself into family and friends for nearly 93 years.
She was a choir member, pianist, saxophonist in a big band orchestra, passionate gardener, a Sunday school teacher and fashion merchandiser. But more than that she was a loving daughter, sister, aunt, wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and friend.
Let’s look at highlights of her life story and consider the character qualities that endeared her to us all.
She was born in a small eastern Washington town of Riverside, on the warm banks of the Okanogan River in 1926 to Roy and Mabel Tugaw, the first of three children.
In her early life growing up she and sister Shirley played with homemade paper dolls on the Tugaw cattle ranch on Johnson Creek in the yard behind a house her father built himself. Shirley remembers that the sisters made a pile of rocks into a playhouse and a baby goat into a house pet. Pauline adored brother Donny her entire life and was so proud of his success as an engineer.
As a young girl Pauline enjoyed reading western novels and was a top student. Her father bought her a saxophone so she could take part in the school’s music program. Her senior year she joined a dance band playing big band music on her sax at local venues long into the night. She played such songs as Sentimental Journey, Moonlight Serenade, Chattanooga Choo Choo or The Way You Look Tonight.
She graduated from Riverside High School in 1944 serving as Class President and named Salutatorian.
That year she attended Washington State University in Pullman until she decided to marry her high school sweetheart Gene Gillespie on Nov. 4, 1945. Gene just returned from service as a general enlisted soldier in the US Army, working as a typist for General MacAuthur in Japan.
 |
| Pauline and Gene |
They were married in the Riverside Methodist Church and honeymooned in a hotel in Wenatchee, now the Cascadian Apartments on Wenatchee Avenue.
The couple lived in Riverside in a small house they purchased not far from her parents and grandmother.
Gene worked as a machine operator at the Biles Coleman Saw Mill making in-demand lumber for the booming postwar economy from raw logs harvested in the mountains. During this time Pauline gave birth to Mike, Susan and Gary.
Then in 1956 Gene heard about an exciting opportunity in Seattle. The Boeing Aircraft Manufacturing Company needed men willing to be trained as machinists and engineers. He applied and was hired and the Gillespie family moved to the Seattle suburb of Kent.
Gene later said that he worried if he could afford the $10,000 for the three bedroom, one bath rambler on 2 and a half forested acres.
Pauline focused on raising the young children and being active in the Kent United Methodist Church. She also put her energy into making flower and vegetable beds encircling the house. In the front yard she planted white and lavender lilac bushes given to her by her father to remind her of eastern Washington. Each spring loved bringing cuttings of the sweet-smelling lilac blooms into the house.
The family enjoyed traveling back to Riverside to visit grandparents once or twice a year as well as weekend vacations to the Washington Pacific coast to beach comb or dig clams at Kalaloch or Long Beach.
In 1962 Pauline began her career in fashion merchandising when she took a job at the JC Penny store in Kent. She began as clerk then was promoted to manager and buyer. For the next 25 years she worked to fulfill the company mission “To help our customer find what she loves for less time, money and effort.”
She liked the job so much she didn’t want to retire when Gene did in 1987, but he convinced her to step down so they could have more time together. They sold the Kent home and purchased a dream house on a golf course in Covington, a newer community near by. Pauline said that she didn’t regret moving out of the Kent home because “We used up all the goodness in it.”
In Covington Pauline became a landscape architect designing a spectacular garden surrounding the house with evergreen shrubs, flowering trees and vines and every kind of flower. Gene built an arbor and three foot high boarded boxes filled with dark compost for growing corn, beans, squash and
Gene played his beloved golf with friends and the couple hosted grandchildren Drew, Shelley and Carol for holiday meals or on outings. Pauline met with former JC Penny co-workers for monthly lunches and became close friends with neighbors. They were active in the Cornerstone Methodist Church a few miles down the road. They enjoyed picnics in the Cascade foothills, took cross country road trips and a once in a life time group tour to Scotland.
When Gene passed away from a long illness in 2006, Pauline continued to live in the house. She missed him terribly and wrote letters to him.
In 2010 she moved to East Wenatchee to be near daughter Sue and granddaughter Carol. She lived in an independent cottage at Bonaventure Retirement Community until she moved into an apartment in “the big house” of the facility that provided all her meals and offered activities.
In the past two years she lived in Tuscany Cottage, a group home specializing in round the clock memory care. She passed away two weeks after suffering a stroke on March 2, 2019.
I was there in the final hours. At one point when we washed her face with a warm hand cloth to apply some facial cream, longtime aide Amanda commented on how fine her skin looked. She was beautiful to the end.
Gene’s brother Larry recently said that Pauline was a person beautiful on the inside as well as on the outside.
And that is what counts most.
In French the name Pauline means small one. That matches her slight stature and movie star figure that first attracted Gene when he spotted her during a basketball game as she played the sax in the pep band. Later he said, “That’s the girl for me.”
They became sweethearts and married at 18 and 19 years old.
"I'll be loving you, always
With a love that's true, always
Not for just an hour
Not for just a day
Not for just a year, but always, always."
It was her loving character that made her all the more beautiful.
The name Pauline is the feminine version of Paul, the saint who taught us about the supremacy of love.
Paul believed that the universe is backlit by a divine love that gives human experience transcendent meaning.
In chapter 13 of First Corinthians Paul revealed how to recognize divine love. It is the same kind of love that we saw expressed day in and day out of Pauline’s life.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
Patient, kind, selfless. That was Pauline, our sister, mother, grandma, relative and friend.
She was the sunshine of our life.
We basked in her love and acceptance and grew into better people because of it.
Just as sunshine and devoted care makes a garden produce bouquets of yellow daffodils, white roses or pink hydrangea so her love watered, fed and sustained our souls.
I can see her now putting on her garden shoes and gloves, kneeling on a foam cushion to weed, thin, prop up tomato saplings or prune a raspberry bush or dig trenches to plant various seeds, pumpkin, swash, corn or zucchini or carefully arrange strawberry starts for maximum growth. Just as her vegetable bed produced an abundance of food and fruit, so our lives were enriched by a loving hand and watchful eye of a gardener who never lacked faith that she would see a bounty brought forth in due season.
My mother loved the beauty of flowers and plants but we also know that she loved the beauty of music.
One of her favorite songs was “You Are My Sunshine” by Jimmie Davis.
I have a vivid memory of mom singing it to me when I was 5 years old as she tucked into bed.
“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You'll never know, dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away.”
In spite of all our pleas that light has been taken.
The sunshine has set and the stillness of night approaches.
That is when we remember that with faith comes hope.
Because as a girl she responded to the message of Jesus Christ in that Riverside Methodist church Sunday school she now rests in God’s promise of eternal life.
That’s what we believe. "Death is swallowed up in victory."
One glad daybreak we will see her again. Free of flaws, clouded mind or illness. More beautiful than before.
Pauline told me that her favorite worship song is called “I can only imagine” by Mercy Me.
“I can only imagine what it will be like
When I walk, by your side Jesus
Surrounded by Your glory
What will my heart feel ?
Will I stand in your presence
Or to my knees will I fall?
Will I be able to speak at all?”
Today we looked back to remember Pauline Marie Gillespie’s legacy of love and beauty. We can only imagine what eternity will hold.
Perhaps in paradise Pauline will tend the gardens or put her fashion merchandising experience to work outfitting angels.
Finally let me say, Mom
I'll be loving you, always
Not for just an hour
Not for just a day
Not for just a year, but always, always.
I’ll see you in the morning.
____________________________________________________
WATCH a Lifetime of Memories: Pauline Gillespie Memorial Video
WATCH a Lifetime of Memories: Pauline Gillespie Memorial Video
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