Lawrence Beverly Gillis

Bangor & Baileyville - Lawrence “Gus” Beverly Gillis, age 87, passed away at the Maine Veterans' Home in Bangor on Tuesday,16 July 2013.
Born 15 May 1926 in Oakland, Maine, to Grace Eloise (Sidelinger) (Gillis) Chapman (deceased) and Jack Gillis (deceased), he attended Calais Academy, and graduated in June 1943. Lawrence “Gus” served in the US Navy during World War II, enlisting when he reached the minimum age of 17 years old. He was initially in the Naval Air Cadet program at Dartmouth College. He served aboard the USS Sangamon (CVE-26) when it was struck by a Japanese kamikaze attack on 4 May 1945. He also was part of the initial crew and maiden voyage of the USS Midway (CVB-41).
On 19 June 1948, he married Nora Marie Latter of Liscomb Mills, Nova Scotia, at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Calais.
Nora and Gus lived in Baileyville (Woodland) where Gus worked at the St. Croix Paper Company (purchased to become Georgia Pacific). He retired after 44 years in 1991, as the Maintenance Supervisor in the GP Woods Division in Princeton.
Gus served on the Baileyville Fire Department for 52 years and retired in 2006 as the Baileyville Fire Chief. He has also served on the Baileyville School Board multiple times, the Baileyville Planning Board, the Baileyville School Trustees, and various other town committees throughout his life. He was a member of Anah Shriners, St.Croix Masonic Lodge #46, and American Legion W. T. Wren Post. Gus and Nora were members of St Anne’s Episcopal Church in Calais.
Gus will be especially remembered for his love of flying. He grew up in an age when flying and air travel was being pioneered. He started as a boy building gas-powered model airplanes. He has owned several aircraft and survived a plane crash due to engine problems in 1964. He was most proud of his Cessna 172 Skyhawk. Gus was a certified flight instructor and taught several local people to fly.
Throughout his life, Gus enjoyed playing the trumpet and used to play with the Calais City Band, performing concerts in the Calais City Park in the years following World War II. His Gus Gillis Orchestra dance band performed in the late 1950s and early 1960s before guitars dominated most musical groups. Gillis Radio and TV Repair Service operated in the early 1960s during a time when electronics weren’t disposable, but would be repaired.
Gus was especially proud and never shy of bragging about his family. Survivors include his wife of 65 years, Nora Marie (Latter), of Bangor and Baileyville; son Russell Gillis and his wife Isibelita, of Vicksburg, Michigan; daughter Beverly Greene and her husband Arthur of Scarborough; daughter Cynthia Brown and her husband Maurice of Bangor; daughter Alane Gayton and her husband Richard of Baileyville; son Earle Gillis and his wife Lisa of Corning, New York. Survivors also include grandchildren, Jennifer Lauer and husband Damian, Allan Gillis and wife Carol, Vanessa Fernandez Greene and husband Juan, Meridith Greene and husband Eben, Leslie Brown, Christopher Gillis, Keely Leonard and husband Dale, Julia Gillis, Shawn Gillis, and step-grandsons Nicholas Brown I and wife Barbara, and Christopher Bowker and wife Mariah. Also surviving are 10 great grandchildren, Savanna Gillis, Kaitlyn Lauer, Julian Peterson, Elías Fernandez Greene, Sabela Fernandez Greene, Gabriella Brown, Nicholas Brown II, Hannah Bowker, Andrew Bowker, and William Bowker. Gus was preceded in death by his father, Jack, in
1931, his step-father, Clarence, in 1934, and his mother, Grace in 1982.
Relatives and friends are welcome to attend a Memorial Service to be held 2 p.m. Thursday, July 25, 2013 at St. Anne's Episcopal Church, 29 Church Street, Calais. Services are through Mays Funeral Home, Calais & Eastport. Private interment will be at the family plot in Pine Grove Cemetery, Sennebec Road, Appleton Maine.
Contributions are welcome in Gus’ memory at Shriners Hospital for Children, 51 Blossom Street, Boston, MA 02114.
A special thanks to the staff of the Maine Veterans' Home in Bangor, Maine for their very caring help and support.

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