Roy Davis Gilliland, the kindest person his friends and family ever knew, passed away quietly on Sunday, April 19, 2020. In the midst of our grief, we'd like to share a few memories of this most joyous of lives.

Roy was born on March 8, 1928, in Fort Worth, Texas, but spent his blissful childhood with his adored and brilliant older sister, Jimmie Jeff, among the pine woods of his beloved Gladewater. He was given the rarest of possessions, a happy childhood, as he flitted
between doting parents and adoring aunts and uncles. His parents, Leland and Maurine, ran a small town photo studio which was fortuitously located next to a movie theatre. It was during the countless hours he
spent in that darkened theatre that Roy learned that life was a series of happy endings. Nothing life threw his way - war, the death of a spouse, or his own dementia - ever threatened that core belief. He was happy
as a child and was determined to live that way forever. And so he did.

Roy attended Texas A&M University, where he majored in engineering. He loved the Corps of Cadets, but hated engineering. Instead, he would graduate with a degree in accounting. Soon, there was marriage to
the first great love of his life, Mary Jo Murphy. Their honeymoon had barely ended when he was called to Korea with the 45th Infantry of the US Army. He served with distinction and was nominated for the Bronze Star.
But he returned to start a family with the birth of his beloved daughter, Holly, in 1953, and his son, Kyle, in 1959. He began work as a systems analyst for Pan American Oil (Amoco), which moved the family to Tulsa in
1964. And much too soon, he would lose Mary Jo to cancer in March of 1976.

But, as mentioned before, Roy was determined to live happily ever after. Life obliged. Soon, he met the second great love of his life, Mary Margaret Gilmore (his beloved "Maggie."). After a long and blissful courtship, the two married in March of
1992. Not surprisingly, they lived happily ever after, sharing their joys, their rare griefs, their good times and their ever-growing blended family. He would do anything for her, even yard work, which he hated with a white hot passion.
But once he loved you, he loved you all the way.

And that's how we'll remember him. As a pure and kind soul, a hilarious story teller, a man of faith, and a man of boundless generosity. He loved the written word; he loved the music of his pre-war childhood and he loved to make people laugh. He was a generous listener and dispensed the kindest, most thoughtful advice without judgment or blame. He will be missed. He will be cherished. And he will be long remembered. And we offer him now a heartfelt wish he never once needed: Sleep well, Sonny Boy.

Roy is survived by his wife, Maggie, of Tulsa; daughter Holly and husband Mark Andersen of Houston, TX; and son Kyle of Tulsa; and Maggie's children, daughter Denise and Andrew Hartman of Tulsa, son Terry Gilmore and Frankie Carroll of Tulsa,
grandchildren Scott and Gwyneth Hartman of New York City, Sally and Maggie Hartman-McIntosh of Austin, TX, and Hayley and Drew Sharp of Tulsa.