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It is with great regret and sorrow that I must notify you of the death of our
classmate, Bob Gilliam, on January 20, 2024. in Trophy Club, TX.
Bob is survived by his wife, Sally; their son Jeff and his wife, Stephanie; and their
granddaughter, Avery.
Burial at Arlington National Cemetery will be
private.
Condolences may be sent to Sally at 116 Oakmont Drive, Trophy
Club, TX 76262-5470. The family has asked that donations in Bob’s memory
be sent to the American Heart Association, 7272 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX
75231. Well done, Bob. Be thou at peace.
Remembrances:
Class Memorial Pages/F-1 Bob Gilliam.pdf
Obituaries:
Robert Norris Gilliam1937-2024
On January 20, 2024, Robert "Uncle Bob" Gilliam, beloved husband, father, and friend, passed away
peacefully at home with his wife and son by his side. He was 87 years old.
 Born in Dover, Delaware, on January 2, 1937, Robert Norris Gilliam lived a
life filled with adventure, service, and unwavering optimism. He was the
eldest of the three children of Lionel “Larry” Cortez Gilliam, a detective
for the Dover Police Department, and Sara Garrison Gilliam. Together with
his brother Tom and his sister Jeanie, his family moved several times in his
youth, living in Michigan and other parts of Delaware. As a young boy, he and
Tom took tap lessons, and were known to perform for free at movie theaters,
entertaining the audience before the film.
By high school, the family
was back in Dover, and he graduated in 1955. Later that year, he was the
fifth-place winner of something called the “Teen Age Road-e-o,” a national safe
driving competition, resulting in a free trip to Chicago for the National
Auto Show.
 Following a year of work in his uncle Jay's rose nursery in
Atlanta, Georgia, he secured an appointment to the United States Military
Academy at West Point. While there, he achieved expert marksman badges and
was a successful pitcher for the baseball team. Known then as “Giller” or “the
Lanky Lefty,” he pitched a one-hitter in his varsity debut, an
eight-strikeout, 5-0 win over Brown. He also played in several annual
exhibition games against the New York Yankees, securing autographs from the
likes of Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle.
 In 1961, he was commissioned a
second lieutenant. Opting to transfer to the United States Air Force, he
attended pilot training at Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, Texas. After
receiving his “wings,” he married the love of his life, Sally Ann Fox, on
September 22, 1962.
Over the course of the next few years, the couple
lived in El Paso, Texas (Biggs AFB), and Roswell, New Mexico (Walker AFB),
during which time
 Bob became a pilot in the B-52 bomber. By 1966, he was
promoted to captain, and was an aircraft commander and pilot evaluator in the
24th Bomb Squadron of the 6th Bomb Wing within the USAF’s Strategic Air
Command. He had flown multiple airborne alert missions - carrying MK 28 and
MK 23 nuclear weapons during what was arguably the height of the Cold War.
Some of his missions included 20+ hours of continuous flying time, over the arctic circle near Soviet
airspace. He was also repeatedly deployed to Guam, totaling 186 days within
the combat zone of the Vietnam War. In January 1967, with the situation
in Vietnam escalating, Bob made the difficult decision to leave the military.
He and Sally relocated to Dallas, Texas, where he began his long civilian career
as a commercial pilot, beginning with Braniff International Airlines. In
March 1975, his only child Jeffwas born, and soon thereafter the family
moved to Trophy Club, Texas, a planned community near a Ben Hogan-designed
golf course.
 Despite the challenges of Braniff’s bankruptcy in 1982, Bob
was resilient. He was briefly a realtor, but when former Braniff personnel
started Sun Country Airlines, he eagerly joined the fledgling airline based
out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The family bought a townhouse in nearby pple
Valley, which Bob used as a home base while flying. In many summers, Sally and
Jeff joined him there, but the rest of the year he “commuted” from Dallas/Ft.
Worth as much as possible. This way of life must have been tiring, but he
was by all accounts happy and took great pride in his work, making
friends of colleagues, passengers, airport and hotel staff, and waiters all over
the country. It was in this era that his Uncle Bob persona developed. “Do
you have an Uncle Bob?” he’d ask the waitress who just seated his family.
“Well, you do now!”
Bob was an early adopter of
technology; quick to purchase the latest Macintosh computer, cordless phone,
modem, fax machine, or multifunction printer; later wifi routers, iPads,
iPhones, Apple Watches - and every accessory associated with all of these.He
loved Rush Limbaugh and other conservative talk show hosts in these years, and
avidly followed pro sports of all kinds; especially the Dallas Cowboys and
the Texas Rangers. The family spent many happy summer nights at Arlington
Stadium, especially in the Nolan Ryan years of the early 90’s.
 In 1996, due to FAA prohibitions against
pilots older than 60, Bob flew his last flight in the pilot or copilot seats
- but he was able to stay in the cockpit for about five more years as a
flight engineer on the Boeing 737. The final phase of his career was with the
Federal Aviation Administration as a Flight Safety Inspector, working
closely with American Eagle. He retired fully in 2006, at the age of 69.
In retirement, Bob and Sally became “reverse snow birds,” swapping
hot Texas summers for temperate Minnesota. Bob’s love for golf flourished,
with a particular fondness for the Hidden Greens Golf Course in Hastings.
His lifelong affinity for Republican politics deepened, and he was proud to
exercise his 2nd Amendment rights.
 His optimism remained a constant
throughout his life, as did his ability to make friends wherever he went.
Even in his final days, he’d chat up a nurse at the hospital, starting out,
“Hey, Apple Watch babe!”
Referring to his proclivity to give advice,
one acquaintance noted, “Uncle Bob thought he had the whole place wired.
Whether he actually did was irrelevant. There’s something endearing about that
and there is a lesson in there for all of us.”
Bob leaves behind a
legacy of love, laughter, and lasting friendships. He will be deeply missed by
Sally and Jeff; daughter in-law Stephanie Lewy Gilliam; granddaughter Avery
Gilliam; brother Tom; sister in-law Biff, brother in-law Bobby; nieces and
nephews Shawn Reed Parsons, Kerry Gilliam Hales, and Wade Gilliam; and a
wide circle of devoted friends across the US and beyond.
Though he may be
gone, the memory of Uncle Bob's spirit and zest for life will live on in the
hearts of all who were fortunate enough to have known him.
 Please
consider a donation to the American Heart Association in Bob’s name:
https://ahatribute.funraise.org/fundraiser/jeff-gilliam
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