HIRAM- Dr. Jeffery Lynn Gilliland died on March 24, 2024, at Maine Medical Center, Portland, Maine after suffering a sudden cardiac event at his home in Hiram, Maine. He was born in Fresno California on 2/4/1959, to Thomas Edsel Gilliland, an entomologist with the USDA, and Jessie Louis (Tripp) Gilliland. As a very young child Dr. Gilliland lived for 2 years in Tehran, Iran. His family were the guests of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi while his dad was on loan to the United States AID program through the USDA. Upon return to the United States, his family lived in Southern California, first in Merced and then Bakersfield. Dr. Gilliland’s family then moved to Tallahassee, Florida where he attended elementary, middle, and high school. During high school, and a short time after, he worked for a local Tallahassee veterinarian, Dr. Harry Taylor as well as at Live Oak Stable, an English riding stable. Both experiences ignited his passion for veterinary medicine. As God often does, He changed the direction of Dr. Gilliland’s life by guiding him to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. After boot camp at the “sunny sea side resort of Parris Island, South Carolina,” he was assigned to USMCAS Memphis, Tennessee as an aircraft communications/navigation electrical weapons system technician. The command saw something greater in him, thus he was offered an officer’s commission through the Marine Corps Enlisted Commissioning Program. This took him to the Basic School in Quantico, VA. After the basic school he obtained an assignment as an Infantry Officer. He was assigned to MCB Barstow, “the Stumps” California. Then it was on to MCB Okinawa, Japan. While at Okinawa, he traveled widely around Asia. He returned to the US and was stationed at The Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego and then MCB Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina. He saw combat in Kuwait and Kuwait City during the first Desert Storm. He traveled the mediterranean courtesy of the USMC and the US Navy. While on active duty, Dr. Gilliland obtained a bachelor’s degree from National University in San Diego. After leaving active USMC service, Dr. Gilliland continued his education at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia obtaining a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. After college Dr. Gilliland worked at various veterinary clinics in the Northeast Georgia area. In 2014 Dr.Gilliland followed the call of the Lord and purchased the Sacopee Veterinary Clinic in Cornish, Maine of which he was still the owner and operator of at the time of his death.
Dr. Gilliland was an evangelical Christian and a firm believer of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He had extensive training in sharing his faith and routinely handed out bibles at the clinic in Cornish. He participated in a medical mission trip to Haiti and various trips to the Appalachian Mountain area.
In his leisure time, Dr. Gilliland enjoyed the hunting season, especially deer and turkey. He had many ancestors that fought in the American Revolutionary War and the American Civil War, on both sides, and thus enjoyed studying and learning about those times of American history. He loved to travel and would always take the road less traveled. His two favorite foreign countries were Korea and Israel. He was always willing to try new cuisines. This is how he learned the valuable lesson to not eat the bird’s nest soup at the various establishment outside the Olongapo gate of the Subic Bay Naval Base in the Philippines, albeit too late.
Dr. Gilliland is survived by his wife of 35 years Beverly Russell, Hiram, ME. His brother Robert Gilliland (Martha) of Tallahassee Florida and his sisters Nancy Short and Barbara (Tom) Harrison both of California. He is preceded in death by his brother Thomas Gilliland and his parents. In lieu of flowers it is asked that donations be made to the Sacopee Rescue Unit,Box 367, Parsonsfield Maine.
A memorial service will be held on April 6, 2024, at Hilltop Baptist Church, 17 School St., Cornish Maine at 2 pm. The memorial service is open to the public and all are invited to attend.
Online condolence messages can be submitted at the Poitras, Neal & York Funeral Home, website, www.mainefuneral.com
Arrangements have been entrusted to Poitras, Neal & York Funeral Home, Cornish, www.mainefuneral.com
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