Beverly Gilley

Beverly Irene Brown Gilley, 75, passed away peacefully on Aug. 21, 2012, surrounded by her family at the Immanuel Lutheran Home in Kalispell. “She now joins her husband of 53 years in heaven.”

She was born on Halloween, Oct. 31, 1936, in Brownville, Neb., one of six children born to William “Earl” and Mildred “Marie Brown. Living a modest life with her large family, she was very focused on what the word “family” truly meant. That is how she lived her life, and she taught her children and grandchildren that family is truly what is important in this world.

Beverly and Gary Gilley were married on Jan. 12, 1957. To their union four children were born. Beverly and Gary lived the early years of their married life in the Midwest.

Beverly enjoyed her garden and canning. One of her favorite things to do in the fall was to gather black English walnuts and hull them on their screened-in porch. The family would often spend the fall and winter nights shelling those walnuts and reminiscing as a family.

Beverly and Gary moved their family to Montana in 1978, first living in Hamilton and then settling permanently in the Flathead Valley. Beverly had various part-time jobs through the years, but her main priority was her children. She worked as a ward clerk for several years and then worked part time at a local dry cleaners here in Kalispell.

In later years, Beverly was able to travel across the country in their motor home, visiting family and friends as far east as Arkansas and as far south as Mexico. They spent their winters in Arizona and the rest of the year in their home state of Montana with their family. After some health issues, they decided to stop traveling and spent their remaining years with her children, their spouses and their grandchildren.

Bev’s strength and perseverance to recover from her previous heart surgeries and strokes would later cause her vascular dementia, which she was unable to overcome.

Beverly was preceded in death by her parents; brothers Warren and Richard Brown; sister Shirley Smith; her husband Gary Gilley I; and son Gary Duane Gilley II.

She is survived by her son Mark Gilley and wife Laurie, of Columbia Falls; daughter Valerie Galloway and husband Rex, of Kalispell; daughter Teresa Miller and husband Brad, of Kalispell; grandchildren Jason and Danielle Gilley, of Columbia Falls, Tabitha and Jordan Venezio and Erica Miller, all of Kalispell, Jamie Sue Gilley Pierce, of Kansas, and Logan Nosbusch of Minnesota; sister Myrna Jones, and brother William Earl Brown Jr., of Little Rock, Ark.; along with numerous other family and friends.

The family would like to thank the staff at Immanuel Lutheran Home for caring for Beverly during her final months.