Willa Carol Gillespie McQuary passed on April 27, 2016. Carol was born on December 14, 1918 in Harrison County, MO. She was the second child of Robert Lincoln Gillespie and Clara Carolyn Wells Gillespie. Her older brother, William Robert, died when he was 5, leaving Carol to grow up as the oldest child. Her sister, Daisy Irene Bruckner, and her brothers, James Eldon and Glenn Alton Gillespie passed on previously. Her sister, Lola Mae Harryman, and her brother, Victor Gene Gillespie, survive.
Carol graduated from high school in Bethany, MO and attended college at George Washington University. Carol was a NAVY WAVE 1943-1945. She was a Link Trainer Instructor and taught student Naval aviators celestial navigation and instrument flying. She was stationed in Georgia, Rhode Island, New York and Florida. After the War, she moved to Kansas City where she married a former Bethany classmate, James Otis ‘Doug’ McQuary, Jr., an attorney. They had two daughters, Molly Irene and Julie Anne. After moving to Jefferson City, MO, Doug was killed by a drunk driver in 1961. Carol and her daughters relocated to Columbia, MO where Carol began a long career at the University of Missouri. She retired in 1985 and moved to Pleasant Hill, CA, to be near her daughter Molly’s family so she could help with young grandsons, Christopher and Jeremy Mullin.
In 1994, Carol moved to Steamboat Springs, CO where her daughter, Julie, was living. In 1996, Carol moved with Julie to Olympia, WA where she was residing when she passed. Carol was active in the community volunteering for many years with Senior Services of South Sound, United Way, and public school reading programs.
Carol’s daughters, son-in-law William Mullin, grandsons, grand-daughter-in-law, Jennifer Mullin and great-grand-daughters, Madeline Grace and Chloe May Mullin survive. Carol is also survived by many nieces and nephews and dear friends who helped make her life filled with love and good times.
Carol requested no memorial be held. Her ashes will be interred with her husband in the Miriam Cemetery in Bethany, MO.