STATE OF OKLAHOMA

1st Session of the 54th Legislature (2013)

SENATE
RESOLUTION 31	By:	Schulz

AS INTRODUCED

A Resolution honoring long-time Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Bob Gilmore and his service to his state and nation; and directing distribution.

WHEREAS, Bob Gilmore has served as a Sergeant-at-Arms for the Oklahoma State Senate since 1994 serving at the pleasure of five President Pro Tempores, including Bob Cullison, Stratton Taylor, Mike Morgan, Glenn Coffee and Brian Bingman; and
WHEREAS, Bob was born in 1921 in Paterson, New Jersey to Jesse and Peter Gilmore who were first generation U.S. citizens whose parents immigrated from Scotland; and
WHEREAS, Bob was the first in his family to graduate from high school before joining the U.S. Army in August 1942.  He served in the 5th Army, 3rd Infantry Division, 10th Engineer Battalion in Company C.  He served for nearly four years being stationed in North Africa, Sicily and Italy sweeping mine fields.  He received two Battle Stars in Sicily, and reached the rank of Corporal before being honorably discharged from the military for a medical injury; and
WHEREAS, Bob met his wife of 52 years, Imogene Collins Gilmore, at U.S. Army Northington General Hospital in Tuscaloosa, Alabama where he was sent for rehab for his injury and served his final time at Northington as a physical reconditioning instructor; and
WHEREAS, Bob was also the first in his family to graduate from college getting his degree in Physical Education in 1952 from the University of Alabama; and
WHEREAS, after graduating, he began a long, successful career in the newspaper industry starting in the circulation department at the Tuscaloosa News.  Bob then became the business manager of the Baytown Sun in Texas and then the owner and publisher of the Brenham Banner Press in Texas.  He then owned and published the Altus Times in Oklahoma from 1970 to 1984, while also purchasing other newspapers in Oklahoma and interests in newspapers in Colorado, Texas, Missouri and Mississippi; and
WHEREAS, Bob was very active in the communities in which he lived serving in leadership roles in many of these organizations.  While in Altus, he served as the President of the Chamber of Commerce, the Chairman of the United Way, president of the Rotary Club and as an Honorary 4-H member; and
WHEREAS, Bob also served his state as a member of the Oklahoma Industrial Development Commission, the Oklahoma Commission on State Government Reform and the Special Committee on Capital Improvements; and
WHEREAS, Bob is a Baptist Deacon and was invited to the National Prayer Breakfast by three different Presidents including Carter in 1980, Reagan in 1983, and Bush in 1992; and
WHEREAS, Bob and his wife, Jean, a former Senate employee in the Engrossing and Enrolling Division who passed away in 1998, have three children, Robert Gilmore, Jr.; Carole Gilmore Atkinson; and Jan Gilmore Loftis; two grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE 1ST SESSION OF THE 54TH OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE:
THAT the Oklahoma State Senate honors long-time Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Bob Gilmore and his service to his nation and state.
THAT a copy of this resolution be distributed to Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Bob Gilmore.

54-1-1589	JB	5/7/2013 1:07:14 PM