Marquita Gillenwater died peacefully
on 1/28/2018 at her home in the South Fork community of Barren County. She was the eldest of five children born to
Willis and Gertrude Peel in Lauderdale, Mississippi. After attending Dixie Highway School and
graduating as Valedictorian, a scholarship allowed her to continue her
education at the Meridian Municipal Junior College, where she graduated at the
age of 18. She then attended Peabody
College, now part of Vanderbilt University, while working as a telegraph operator
for Western Union. Marquita graduated
with a Bachelor’s Degree in both English and Spanish. After graduation, she put that Spanish
language education to good use working for a medical supply company in
Tennessee and Mexico. While in college,
she was successfully pursued and wooed by a Vanderbilt law student named James
Edward Gillenwater, whom she later married.
After a honeymoon accompanied by James’ mother, Lillian Gillenwater, the
couple settled in Glasgow and began a family.
James practiced law while Marquita was a stay-at-home mother, until the
children were all enrolled in school. At
that time, she began her own career, first assisting in her husband’s office,
and then working for many years at the Pedigo-Lessenberry Insurance
Agency. While there, she became only the
second woman in Kentucky, at that time, to sit for and pass the Kentucky
insurance adjuster’s licensing examination.
Marquita was a past President of the Glasgow Woman’s Club and a member
of the Ladies’ Matinee Musicale. She was
an avid birder and became an officer in the Kentucky Ornithological
Society. Her proudest accomplishment,
however, was a successful mission to clear invasive thistles from the fields of
surrounding farms and roadways. The
trunk of her car always contained a grubbing hoe to dislodge the offending
plants, thick gloves for protection from the prickles, and a large garbage bag
in which she placed the plant for the roots to dry out and keep the seeds from
spreading near and far.
Marquita was preceded in death by her
husband James and daughter Mollie. She
is survived by one sister Ann McCoy; a daughter Emily Laird (Roger); a son Tim
Gillenwater (Kim); five adored grandchildren Kirk Laird, Mollie Freeman, Dayton
Parr, and James and Justin Gillenwater, and five great grandchildren: Jay Freeman, Nick Wallace,
and Evelyn, Madeline, and William Parr.
Pursuant to her request, there will
be no public funeral service. A small
memorial service will be held at a future date for family members and a few
close friends. Our thanks go to the T.
J. Samson Hospice nurses and staff and to her wonderful and compassionate
caregivers: Shirley, Diane, and Trudy. Any desired expressions of sympathy may be
made to the Kentucky Ornithological Society, BRAWA or Community Medical Care.
