Russell E. Gilmore

Russell E. Gilmore, 75, of rural Sweet Springs, died Friday, March 23, 2007. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 27, 2007, at Campbell-Lewis Chapel in Sweet Springs. Visitation will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Monday at the funeral home. Friends may call after 4 p.m. Monday at the funeral home. Burial will be in Fairview Cemetery in Sweet Springs. Pallbearers will be Bob Glenn, Kenny Sims, Steve Krause, Nick Huston, Don Shivley and Dennis Krause. Memorials may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Online condolences may be sent to www.campbell-lewis.com.

Born Aug. 18, 1931, in Sweet Springs, he was the son of the late George Edgar Gilmore and Myrtle Forest White Gilmore. He had lived in the Sweet Springs area most of his life and was a member of Wesley United Methodist Church. He was a graduate of Sweet Springs High School, a 1953 graduate of Missouri Valley College and attended Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg. He was a schoolteacher and coach for six years in Sedalia Public Schools, a State Farm agent in Sedalia for two years, serving as district manager in Overland Park, Kan., for 10 years, and was owner/operator of G & G Auto Sales. He was a professional baseball player for six years with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization and was elected into the Missouri Valley College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.

Survivors include two daughters, Tammie Joe Frazer of Garden City, Kan., and Melanie J. Martin of Sweet Springs; two sons, Russell E. Gilmore Jr. of Sweet Springs and Michael L. Gilmore of Sweet Springs; several grandchildren and great-grandchildren; one sister, Bernice Meyer of Higginsville; one brother, James E. Gilmore of Overland Park, Kan.; and several nieces and nephews.