Thomas Gillett

Thomas C. Gillett, 100, died March 3, 2017 at home in the Applegate Valley following a brief illness.

He leaves his daughter Sharon (Gillett) Nardello and her husband John Nardello of Grants Pass, granddaughter Aleda Wiese Cloud and husband Antonio Wiese of Blue Lake, CA, grandson Michael Nardello of Santa Cruz, and grandson John Nardello and wife Penny Van Kirk of Seattle, and two great-grandchildren. His wife Virgene (Wade) Gillett predeceased him in 2002.

Born in Lebo, KS, the middle child of 15 born to Thomas and Orpha (Roberds) Gillett, he was a long-time resident of Oregon and California.

As a young man during the Depression, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and worked in forestry in Minnesota. In the late 1930s, when his family moved to Toledo, Oregon, he joined them and met his future wife Virgene Wade there. He worked at the C.D. Johnson Lumber Co. mill in Toledo until 1940 when he joined the Oregon National Guard. When war broke out, his Guard unit was deployed into the U.S. Army.

During World War II he was sent to New Guinea with the 41st Infantry Division. After returning to the U.S., he served with the Military Police until the end of his service.

He and Virgene were married in 1945 in Ft. Bragg, CA where she was a teacher. They moved to Oakland, CA where he worked for the Lloyd Wise Oldsmobile Agency. He later worked for the General Motors service organization, advancing to a position as Zone Service Manager, before working at several training locations around the U.S.

After retirement from General Motors in 1980, he and Virgene then moved to Salem. Tom and Virgene passed many carefree months traveling the U.S. in their motorhome. During this period, they were able to take their granddaughter on adventures to meet friends and family in the summertime. They also took a cruise to South America with some of their friends and joined a tour group to visit the nation’s capital in the mid ‘90s. Retirement was a blessing for them both and they were able to enjoy their lives as never before

An avid golfer, Tom was a longtime member of the Salem Golf Club. Playing into his 90s, he often said it was getting easier and easier to shoot his age.

Tom was beloved in his family for having the most agreeable disposition and, more than once in our experience, was known to have generated the comment “when I grow up I want to be Tom Gillett”. A common question that you could depend upon from him was “what can I do to help?” He never tired of helping his daughter and her husband in any capacity possible and could be found into his mid-90s washing the dishes after a big celebration and helping his daughter clean up her barn after the horses were turned out into the field.

Arrangements are being managed by the Hull & Hull Funeral Home in Grants Pass, with a private inurnment in Salem with his wife. A celebration of life is planned this summer in Salem.