Roy O. Gillen

Coal Valley, Illinois
Roy O. Gillen, 88, of Coal Valley, Illinois, died Friday, February 10, 2006, in Trinity Medical Center, Rock Island.
Services are 10 a.m. Monday in the Celebration of Life Chapel at Trimble Funeral and Cremation Center, Moline. Cremation will follow the services and private burial will be in Moline Memorial Park. Visitation is 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to Union Congregational Church, Moline.
Roy Otto Gillen was born October 20, 1917, in Moline, the son of Otto and Ida Quick Gillen. He married Helen Foye of Galesburg, Illinois, on August 17, 1946, in Moline.
Roy started at Williams White & Company, Moline, in October of 1935, and worked there 46-1/2 years, retiring March 30, 1982, as Vice President of Manufacturing. He loved to golf and caddied at the Rock Island arsenal for 4 years from 1930-1934. After serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps during WW II, he talked about building a championship golf course in the Milan area. After playing many of the better golf courses and observing hole, trap and green designs, his dream came true and in October of 1961, he bought the John Harper farm located on Knoxville Road, and began building a cooperative golf course. This course was named Mill Creek Country Club, now known as Pinnacle Country Club.
Survivors include his wife Helen, daughters and son-in-laws, Amy Gillen-Garcia and Wally Garcia of La Mesa California, and Julie Miller and Tim Miller of Moline, and many nieces and nephews.
Share a story about Roy or light a candle in his memory at www.TrimbleFuneralHomes.com.