Joseph Gillham
February 5, 1920 — December 15, 2016
Joseph G. Gillham, 96, of St. Paul died Thursday, December 15, 2016 at Brookefield Park in St. Paul.
Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday at Jacobsen-Greenway Funeral Home in St. Paul. Reverend Marcia Dorn will officiate. Interment will be in Elmwood Cemetery in St. Paul.
Visitation will be on Monday, from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. at the funeral home.
Memorials are suggested to Howard County Medical Center Foundation or Asceracare Hospice.
Mr. Gillham was born February 5, 1920 in Greeley to George and Lucretia (Crumrine) Gillham.
Joe attended schools in Greeley and Wolbach.
After his schooling, he worked as a trucker mainly hauling cattle and gravel.
Joe was united in marriage to Mildred Nelson on June 3, 1939 in Grand Island.
Joe did trucking for 20 years. He also built some of his own trucks. On his trips hauling cattle to Omaha, on the return trip he would buy different items to bring back to sell.
In 1964 the couple moved to St. Paul where Joe worked at the DX station. In 1969 he opened a car lot on the south side of St. Paul with his wife Mildred and son Duane. He continued working at the car lot until he moved to Matelyn Retirement Community in October 2015 and then he moved to Brookefield Park in St. Paul in January 2016.
Joe loved to dance and listen to music.
He was a former member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Wolbach and the oldest member of the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association, where he served on boards for many years.
Survivors include a daughter, Jodi (JoAnn) Gillham of Wickenburg, Arizona; a daughter-in-law, Jill Gillham of Castle Rock, CO; two granddaughters, Lisa Nielsen and her husband Erik and Brenda Drake; four great-grandsons, Sam and Clayton Nielsen and Kyle and Nathan Drake; a great great-granddaughter, Leighton Drake; a brother, Wayne Gillham of Harrison, Arkansas; and a friend, Hazel Nielsen of St. Paul.
He is preceded in death by his parents; wife, Mildred; a son, Duane Gillham; grandson, Brad Gillham; and a brother, Harold Gillham.