J.D. Gilmer

Memorial services for J.D. Gilmer, 81, Ellinwood, will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at First Baptist Church in Ellinwood. Private inurnment will be at a later date in Great Bend Cemetery, Great Bend.
He died Friday, May 28, 2010, at Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center in Topeka.
He was born Aug. 3, 1928, in Lamar County, Ala., the son of Bernice and Ruby Lee Woods Gilmer. He graduated from Ellinwood High School in 1946 and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He was stationed on Okinawa. He later attended the University of Alabama and Kansas University.
Mr. Gilmer was the retired owner of Pride International (import/export) Janitorial Supply. He founded this company in 1990. He was former president and general manager of Misco International Chemicals. Throughout the 1950s and ’60s, he worked in the oil field supply business in central Kansas. He worked for Mid-Continent Supply in Great Bend and the Mountain Iron Supply. Following his retirement, he served as a business consultant throughout the country.
He was a member of the Masonic Lodge in Wichita, American Legion of Ellinwood and Rotary Club of Ellinwood. He founded Gathering of Eagles, an Ellinwood High School alumni group, and he was the founder and president of Wheat Bowl Inc. for 13 years. This bowl was for NAIA college football teams, and the games were played in Barton County.
He married Donaleigh Rensch. They divorced.
Survivors include two daughters, Leslie Wayman and husband Tom, Burlington, Iowa, and Lindsey Pendry and husband John, Lawrence; a brother, Bernie Gilmer, Indianapolis; four grandchildren, Lauren and Brandon Wayman, and Matthew and Ryan Pendry; and many nieces and nephews.
The family suggests memorials to the Parkinson Disease Research Foundation or to the American Legion Club Room in Ellinwood, sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary, 120 W. 13th St., Lawrence KS 66044.
Online condolences may be sent at warrenmcelwain.com.