John Gile

Ancestors

Died about 8 Sep 2020 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

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Biography

John Gile was a wonderful member of our WikiTree community who has passed away. John Gile made many contributions and will be missed.

John is the compiler of this genealogy.

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in 1924,^[1] (parents from Minnesota) attended Kelvin HS and U. of Manitoba, 3 years in US service in WW2 - 1 in Army Signal Corps, 2 in USAAF, (Navigator B-29. Married during last year of service, returned to Winnipeg, more U., then retailing career. In 1991 retired to Victoria with wife to be 24 hr caregivers for her mother (7 1/2 yrs). Wife died 2005. 10 children, 24 grandchildren, 18 ggch. as of 2011.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army in Jan. 1943 and graduated as a High Speed Radio Intercept Operator (German) before obtaining transfer to the Air Corps where he graduated as Navigator on B-29 bombers. While awaiting overseas posting, the atom bombs brought an end to the war and he returned home to Winnipeg Dec. 1945 After two terms at U. of Manitoba, he entered the sales field. In 1949 he joined the Robert Simpson Co. (later Sears) mail order division, was office manager at Moose Jaw, Sask. then transferred to a new store at Portage la Praire, Manitoba, continuing as store manager when that store, as Sears, was expanded to the largest department store in town. In 1960 he left the company and joined the U.S. Rubber Co. (later Uniroyal) as store manager in San Mateo,CA, later Store Supervisor San Francisco District. In 1970 he became General Manager of a chain of 12 tire stores in No. Calif. In Aug. 1973, he bought his own store in Boise, ID, which he sold in 1980. Until the end of 1985, he was in sales in Boise, then joined City Federal S & L, Mortgage Division, in Sacramento CA as a Loan Officer and retired from that company at their Bellevue, WA office. John is a past Grand Knight of Knights of Columbus in Portage: was Catholic Co-ordinator of the Billy Graham Crusade in Boise in 1982, and then Director of the Fr. Ralph DiOrio Crusade there in 1985, where over 13,000 people who attended were cared for by over 450 volunteers their team had organized. Since 1985 he has spent much time on family history research.

While stationed at Alamogordo AFB, Joy became pregnant.

Funk & Wagnall's New Encyclopedia, (1972), Vol.18, p. 27 - "The first A-bomb was detonated in the desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico on July 16, 1945, by an implosion technique.The first military use of atomic explosives occurred on Aug. 6, 1945, when anA-bomb was exploded over the Japanese city of Hiroshima."

We were living with the Bruhn's in town, and remember waking during the night - it was very hot.We heard about the test later, and often wondered if we were exposed seriously to radiation. Later, the next bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, and the war ended soon after.

Research Notes

• Ida Evans Gile family bible says b. 16 Dec. 1924 - b. cert. shows 15 Dec. Probably when she heard about it and entered it in the bible.

• Genealogist since 1985 - published the Guile-Gile-Guiles Genealogy (960 pages) in 1997 - continue active research.

Sources

1. ↑ Winnipeg records show born 6:45 AM 15 Dec. 1924

See also:

• See FamilySearch Person: LXLF-XR9 for more information