Ruth G. Willis

TUCSON, ARIZ.—Ruth Gilman Willis, 94, died Friday, Jan. 18, 2008, after a long illness.

She was born September 9, 1913, the daughter of Ralph Gilman and Sarah Mayo, in Melrose, Mass., but grew up in Chelsea, where she graduated from Chelsea High School in 1932. After graduation, she studied accounting at the Baypath Institute in Springfield, Mass., graduating in 1933.

Following a series of jobs in Woodstock and White River Junction, she joined the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in 1943. In 1944 she was sent to London, to work in the headquarters finance office. She survived the bombing of London and was transferred to Paris after its liberation in 1945.

After her discharge from the Army as a staff sergeant in 1945, she worked in the munitions board, statistical office, of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. until 1953, when she moved to Los Angeles.

She met and married James Willis in North Hollywood in 1953, and they later moved to the San Fernando Valley. He worked for Lockheed Aircraft in Burbank, and she worked in Los Angeles for the U.S. Geological Survey as an accounts clerk, from 1953-77. Both retired in 1977 and moved to Tucson to be near her half-sister, Lily Moxley Spaulding.

In addition to being an avid reader and letter writer, she was well known for her generosity and sense of humor, as well as her many creative activities, including cooking, sewing, and embroidery.

She was predeceased by her husband in 1991, and her brother, Frank Gilman, in 2004.

Survivors include a half-sister, Lily Spaulding, of Tucson, Ariz.; nephews John and Richard Spaulding, of Tucson, Ariz.; Norman, of Buckeye, Ariz.; and Lewis, of Friday Harbor, Wash.; a niece Brenda Gilman Jones, of West Lebanon; five great-nephews and three great-nieces.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, Jan. 26 in Tucson, Ariz. Interment will occur at a later date in White River Junction.

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