Clara Gilles, center, with four of her great-great-grandchildren Ava Calvin, Lily Brown, Weston Brown, and Cameron Calvin, on April 17, 2024, in celebration of Gilles’ 100th birthday. COURTESY OF VANESSA CALVIN
One hundred years young
BY WKC STAFF
On April 17, 2024, Clara Marie Gilles, a parishioner of Precious Blood Parish in Owensboro, turned 100 years young. In celebration of this milestone, Gilles’ family hosted a celebration at Fern Terra, where she resides, on the 17th with a bluegrass band and a cake. A later celebration was held on April 21 – which was also the birthday of Gilles’ late husband, James Gilles, who died in 1997.
Counterclockwise, Clara Gilles (seated in lower left); with her children Martha J. Payne, Joyce Young, Jimmy Gilles, and Patty Murphy, on April 17, 2024, in celebration of Clara Gilles’ 100th birthday. COURTESY OF VANESSA CALVIN
She was born in Rome, Ky., and grew up attending St. Martin in Rome and St. Mary Magdalene grade school in Sorgho. Gilles attended business school in Evansville and worked in a factory making shells for the LST (Landing Ship Tank) during World War II. She married her husband, the love of her life, in 1944 at St. Mary Magdalene Parish. Gilles worked for a while at Fleishman’s Distillery until her children started needing her at home. She and her husband raised four children (Martha, Patty, Joyce, and Jimmy), and to date have 13 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, and eight great-great-grandchildren.
Her granddaughter, Vanessa Calvin, shared that Gilles “loves to watch University of Kentucky basketball, the news, and visiting with family. She can often be seen wearing her favorite color blue as she always wants to look presentable with her hair done and lipstick on.”
Clara Gilles with a Mayor’s Award of Distinction on the outstanding achievement of her 100th birthday on April 17, 2024, signed by Mayor Tom Watson. COURTESY OF VANESSA CALVIN
Originally printed in the May 2024 issue of The Western Kentucky Catholic.
