Anna May Gililland

Anna May (McDonald) Gililland passed away on January 9, 2011. She was born on February 10, 1924 in Camp Verde. She was the daughter of the late Ben and Ora McDonald. She was united in marriage to Edward Desmond Gililland on July 5, 1942. He preceded her in death on May 13, 1998. Ann is survived by her 10 children, 15 grandchildren, numerous great-grandchildren, some great-great grandchildren and two sisters, Mary Bruce and Betty Parrish of Camp Verde. Selflessly Anna lived her life in the service of others, taking in teenage children in her younger years, later in life caring for terminally ill friends, leaving her home to care for her own mother until the end of her life and then nursing her husband through the end of his life. She adopted 3 of her great-grandchildren at age 73 to keep them from being adopted out separately. All of this, she did never asking for anything but love in return. Anna saw many changes in her life, from the time of hauling water in buckets from the well and using scrub boards to wash clothes through the time of computers and the internet. In her youth Anna worked with her father in a sawmill; she said that she loved the work and smell of the fresh cut wood. As a child she would go out in the pasture with her cousins and they would catch one special cow and ride it like a horse. She lived with her parents in the barracks of what is now the Fort Verde museum. She had a pet mouse that one day ran up her mother\u0027s dress and made her laugh out loud in spite of the punishment she knew was in store for her. Summers they spent living in a tent with a dirt floor that they had to keep swept to keep the dust down. She told us of a story where she drove an old wood truck up on top of a sawdust pile that she and her playmates had been burrowing through and it sank and she had to dig it out with a shovel. She was quite the character and is sorely missed. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, January 15, 2011 at 11:30am at Westcott Funeral Home in Camp Verde. An online guestbook is available to sign at www.westcottfuneralhome.com