Bob and Helen Gill
Sometimes, the most successful marriages are between individuals who are so different that one wonders how they can possibly get along. Not only did Bob and Helen Gill “get along,” they lived marvelous lives filled with adventure, heartbreak, laughter and love. Although their roots were similar, their personalities were quite different. Helen was always so flamboyant. You always knew when she was in the room. Bob, on the other hand, was always in the background. He avoided bringing attention to himself. Although their views on politics and religion were poles apart, they were both very religious. Helen and Bob created a loving and enriching environment for their two children and enjoyed 54 years of marriage.
Helen was born at home on April 10, 1911 to Dora, “Dode,” and Winfield McCoskey. At that time, they lived on a farm in a small three-bedroom house in Franklin Township. When Helen was seventeen months old, she was separated from her parents for four months because her mother was stricken with Typhoid Fever. Hovering near death for almost a month, Dode eventually made a full recovery.
When Helen was five, her parents purchased a farm just east of South Boston, and the family moved there. Although their new homestead was blessed with flowering bushes and persimmon trees, it had no well or spring. They used a rain barrel to catch water for washing clothes, but had to carry water from a neighbor’s spring, which was “down one hill and up the next hill part way,” as Helen recalled in her memoirs. “My dad could carry two pails full and spill hardly a drop. When I was sent to get water, I usually arrived back at the house with only a half pail of water, having splashed the other half on the ground and my shoes. I was not a good water carrier.”
Helen’s welcomed her brother, Herbert, into the world when she was six years old. Helen’s job was to help wash the diapers. She thought he was cute and sweet and she “didn’t mind the job so bad, so long as no one outside the family knew that I was doing it.”
Shortly thereafter, Helen started school. Her method of transportation was simple: she walked. Depending upon the time in her life, this could be as little as ½ mile or could entail walking “through fields on the neighbor’s farm, cross a creek by means of a foot log, and climb the hill to the school.” Most of the schools she attended were one room schools with a drum stove that burned wood in the middle of the room, a slate blackboard across one wall, double desks for the students, a desk and chair in the front for the teacher, and a recitation bench for class lessons and learning. The back wall held coat hooks and a shelf for lunch pails. A pottery drinking water container was in the corner.
Helen started high school in the autumn of 1924. The previous spring, she had attended the high school play and operetta and fell in love with “the handsome young man who had the leading role in the programs.” She told one of her friends that she was “going to marry that boy.” His name was John Parnell “Bob” Gill.
“My high school years were quite normal,” wrote Helen. “I was a good student making all A’s except in Geometry and Physics.” Helen’s class of 1928 was the first to hold commencement exercises in the gym. Out of the twelve girls in her class, six went on to become teachers. “Virgie Cauble and I headed to Madam Blakers in Indianapolis. You could teach one year with a provisional license.” After that, Helen started her teaching career.
JP “Bob” Gill was born on August 31, 1906 to Edith (Carnes) and James Gill. Although born on a farm, Bob’s family moved to town when he was a child, so he knew little of the “farm life.” His father, James, was a teacher, farmer and attorney and later served on the Pekin School Board. Bob’s nickname came from his sister, who stated that when he was little he looked like a “bob” in the water. The nickname stayed with him his entire life.
Bob graduated from Pekin High School in 1924. As Helen recalled, “He came back to the high school in the fall to see the new crop of freshman girls. He saw me for the first time. I was so thrilled. He was the one who bought my pie at the Old Zoar pie supper a few weeks later.” Only thirteen at the time, Helen’s mother made her wait until she was fourteen before she could date. “I didn’t think I could possibly endure the long wait. However, time does pass and I became involved in high school activities.”
True to his word, Bob came around for the date when Helen turned fourteen. Helen, Bob and a chaperone went to Marengo Cave. “That was quite an adventure. I had never been in a cave before,” recalled Helen. “Marengo Cave is a treasure, having the most beautiful rock formations.” Being outgoing and eager to make an impression, Helen drove Bob’s car. “I cut a corner too close and ran off the end of a culvert. A few dents in the car was the result of that episode.”
Bob and Helen had a few more dates the next summer. During this time, Bob was attending New Albany Commercial College and received a two-year accounting certificate. He then enrolled at Hanover College and received a teaching certificate. During this time, Bob and Helen drifted apart.
Bob’s first teaching assignment was at a one-room school in Old Pekin. Among other innovative ideas, he developed a football team and a school lunch program, allowing the eighth grade girls to cook soup for the other students. As Helen recalled, “By the time I was a junior, Mr. Gill was back from Hanover and teaching school at Old Pekin. From all reports, he was far ahead of his time. He even had the girls preparing hot soup for lunch which was practically unheard of.”
From there, Bob moved on to Mitchell High School, where he taught bookkeeping and then returned to New Albany Commercial College. He taught there part time, coached the basketball team and worked part time in a law office. He was admitted to the bar on June 6, 1928. He then moved to Chicago. There he worked for Marshall-Field and Company, which was one of the nation’s largest department stores. Initially, he worked in the claims department and later he moved into internal auditing. Sadly, Marshall-Field and Company was not immune to the depression and Bob had to assist with the company’s downsizing and lay off many people. According to Helen, “Firing people who then went out and took their lives made him very depressed. His doctor told him to ‘take time off, get himself an ax and a shovel and go to the country.’ That was when he came back to Washington County.”
Bob and Helen had remained in contact with each other and when he returned to Washington County he “looked me up.” Bob and Helen were married on February 15, 1939, the same date as Helen’s parents. Together, they bought a farm, Bob paying for two thirds and Helen paying for one third. Although Bob did live on a farm at one time, he knew little about farming and relied heavily on his father-in-law, Winfield McCoskey. Helen gave up her teaching job in Salem, since they didn’t allow female teachers to be married, and started teaching in Polk Township. “Everything worked out fine and we were happy.”
Tragedy struck Bob and Helen on February 4, 1943, when their first daughter, Vicki Jeanine, was born but only lived a few hours. Helen referred to this day as the happiest day and the saddest day of her life.
Helen and Bob eventually had two more daughters, Cheryl Lynne and Jean Elaine. During the early years Bob and Helen worked very hard. The day before giving birth to Cheryl, Helen was behind a horse, plowing a field. She was advised by a neighbor to stop driving the horse and take care of herself, as the baby would be coming soon.
One of Bob’s strongest traits, according to Cheryl, was that he “always gave 100% to everything he did.” Bob served on the Salem school board for 19 years. “The Salem Middle School took so much of daddy’s time. Whenever we went somewhere on a vacation, he would always want to tour the local school and ask questions. He used what he learned to help improve the Salem Schools. He was very influential in the building of both the Bradie Shrum Elementary School and the Salem Middle School.”
Bob was also an inventor and enjoyed experimenting with innovative ideas. He was one of the first hog farmers to use electric heat lamps at farrowing time and then studied whether this was economically feasible. He also designed special feeders and feed mixes and was featured in several national farm magazines. “Daddy could do so much,” affirmed Cheryl. “He was an accountant, a lawyer, and a farmer. He could use surveying equipment, he could fix anything and he was an avid ham radio operator. He was a behind the scenes guy and would like to give other people ideas for projects and then let them have the credit.”
Helen was the outgoing and adventuresome one. After high school, she traveled to Niagara Falls with some of her girl friends. They ran out of money, but rather than cut the trip short, they opted to survive on bread and butter. Helen was liberated long before the term was coined. She lived in an apartment with a life long friend, Virgie Elmore. They died only a few months apart. She traveled internationally for Sweet Adeline Competitions. The Sweet Adelines are the female version of a Barber Shop Quartet. Helen loved that type of music and arranged songs for her daughters and nieces to sing. She could play the piano, clarinet, guitar and accordion and played the organ for many years at St. Patrick Church.
Together, Bob and Helen challenged each other intellectually. They enjoyed studying religion and often engaged in heated discussions on politics and religion. At family get togethers, there would be loud discussions on religion, politics, education… Everyone had an opinion and a great time. They were very broad-minded and way ahead of their times in some things. Helen and Bob also enjoyed traveling. They traveled to every state, Canada, Mexico, most of the European Countries and Ireland. Bob was very proud of his Irish heritage.
At the time of their deaths, both Bob and Helen made provisions for their favorite charities. Because of their generosity, the Washington County Community Foundation now holds the following funds: The Washington County Food Bank Fund, The JP “Bob” Gill Fund for the Poor and Needy, The St. Patrick Church Cemetery Fund, and the Helen Gill Scholarship Fund. All of these funds are endowed; therefore, they will continue to give back to Bob and Helen’s favorite charities, forever, and their lives and legacies will live on in time without end.
