Funeral services for Rolland “Swede” Gilmore, 85, of Linden will be 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 25 at Murdock Funeral Home in Perry. Burial will be in Pleasant Hill (Prairie Center) Cemetery with Military Rites. Visitation will be Thursday, Jan. 25 from 10 a.m. until the time of the service at the funeral home.
Swede passed away Monday, Jan. 22, 2018, at the Perry Lutheran Home in Perry, Iowa.
Rolland H. “Swede” Gilmore was born Nov. 23, 1932, at home to Harry F. and Leila V. (West) Gilmore.
He grew up on the farm in Lincoln Township and attended grade school at a country school two miles from home. He continued his education at Washington Township Consolidated School, graduating in 1950.
While growing up, Swede enjoyed playing basketball and baseball.
He received his draft notice in 1950 and spent most of his basic training at Camp Roberts in California. From there, he was sent to Germany for the remainder of his service days. He was very fluent in Morse code, received his classified clearance and was also an expert marksman.
After his discharge in 1951, Swede returned to Iowa to continue to farm. He also worked at Swift Feed in Des Moines.
He was united in marriage in 1951 to Delores Joan Booth, also a 1950 graduate of Washington Township Consolidated School. To this union six children were born.
In 1959 Swede suffered a major setback when he contracted polio, which left him handicapped the rest of his life. Despite all this, he worked hard to provide a living for his family and build a future for them.
He had a love for U-Control airplanes, which he built and flew while in service, and he later built and flew radio-controlled planes.
He had a love and vast knowledge of anything to do with the military and World War II. He had great knowledge of guns and spent much of his free time shooting. He was still reloading shells until he was nearly 85 years of age, but still took time to teach others how to do it.
He also was very fond of his Siberian huskies, Bandit, King and Prince.
Swede was an avid fan of NASCAR and was a huge fan of Dale Earnhardt until his untimely death. In later years, he enjoyed watching Kyle Busch.
But on top of it all, Swede was a farmer and a damn good one, which was always the most important thing to him, other than his family.
Left to treasure his memory is his wife, Joan; daughter, Gail of Indiana; sons, Alan and Wayne of Iowa; brother, Francis (Mert) Gilmore of Perry; grandsons, Matt (Summer) Gilmore of Perry and Anthony McCain of Grand Junction; granddaughter, Amanda Gilmore of Perry; several nieces and nephews; several good friends; and his very special friends, Mike and Dawn Carey of Panora.
Rolland was preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Lester and Ivan; sisters, Ila and Eleanor; son, Gary; and daughters, Cherie and Cheryl.
Memorials or condolences, for the family, may be left or mailed to Murdock Funeral Home.
