Shirley Marguerite Gillies

A memorial mass will be held at a later date; arrangements by Holt Memorial Chapel.

Shirley Marguerite Gillies, a resident of Harrison, passed from this life on Friday, Feb. 1 (2019) at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville. She was 88 years old. 

Shirley was born on Dec. 27, 1930, at Anamoose, North Dakota. Her parents were Sophia and Thomas Rieder who farmed in the area. She attended high school in Anamoose and upon graduation went on to nursing school at Sisters of Saint Francis School of Nursing at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Minot, North Dakota. She graduated in 1951 and was married to Warren Gillies in September of that year. Together they owned and operated a Coast to Coast Hardware store in Rugby, North Dakota.  They moved to Harrison in December 1970 where Shirley worked for the Area Agency on Aging for 28 years, retiring in 2003 after Warren’s death.  

Shirley was a member of Mary Mother of God Catholic Church; both she and her husband were active members of the choir for many years.  

She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents and one sister, Connie Hayden.

Survivors include her sisters, Mary (George) Vanderhoff and family, of Anoka, Minnesota, and Patricia (Thomas) Alme and family, of Balfour, North Dakota; sons, Dr. George Gillies and wife, Melanie and their daughter, Olivia, of Charlottesville, Virginia, James Gillies, of Kansas City, Missouri, and Scott Gillies and sons, Christian and Alexander, of Harrison; and daughter, Sherry and husband, Lt. Col. (R) William McConnell, of Dardanelle.

A memorial mass will be held at a later date. 

Arrangements by Holt Memorial Chapel.

Online condolences at www.holtchapel.com .