The Salt Lake Telegram
Salt Lake City, Utah
21 September, 1935

Lewis McClellan Gillilan

    The death of Lewis McClellan Gillilan removes a many-sided man from active community service. The greater part of his life he spent as an educator, gaining national prominence as an innovator and pioneer in this field. He gained a permanent place in the history of schooling in Utah. He came here from Ohio in 1886, first teaching in a mining camp, where the ruggedness of the old west persisted. He was lean and sinewy and well able to take care of himself in rough company, which later stood him in good stead when on a railroad location survey. He was known always to have the courage of his convictions, as old-timers in Ogden’s political affrays of other years surely will recall.
    Best known as a school teacher and a school administrator, he nevertheless participated in many community affairs wherever his labors took him. He was never content to look on as the stream of life flowed by. His force in directing its course was always felt, for the spark of leadership glowed within him. He was frequently honored with posts of responsibility, but was more interested in being one of those who would put their shoulders to the wheel in a good cause.
    As an educator he was recognized for high achievements. In more recent years his services as director of the city’s part-time schools and as superintendent of guidance and placement in the government employment service won him high distinction and national recognition. He gave much of his time to constructive civic service, and in these endeavors and in his forward-looking service to the cause of education his counsel and labors won the confidence and respect of all who came in contact with him. His former students were devoted to him for his unflagging interest in them and for his good humor and friendliness. To countless younger people here he was “Gillie,” as he was to many of his intimates, and by all he was beloved as a helpful man, a friend and a wise philosopher with homespun wit and an unerring understanding of human nature.
    He was never a boastful man, but his friends knew his greatest pride was in having reared five sons and daughters, who, each in a chosen field, had attained eminence and distinction, bearing the name of an honorable family with honor. He was scholarly, a plain man of no pretense, tolerant of human frailty and congenial. He richly deserved the many friendships he had won wherever he went in the course of a full life. His influence has been potent in this community, where many mourn his passing.

-	transcription by Kate Maynard, 2011