Ava Lena Peterson Gilmore

Ava Lena Peterson Gilmore 1922 ~ 2004  Ava Lena Peterson Gilmore, born October 7, 1922, in Elba, Idaho to Carl Julius Peterson and Lou Stell Barham, passed away June 8, 2004 at her home in Salt Lake City. Her death was the result of the ravages of Alzheimer's and old age. Raised in Wendell, Idaho, Ava was the fourth of seven children in her family. Following graduation from high school where she was active in all school and community activities she attended Albion Normal School (Albion, ID) and then LDS Business College, she was then employed by the Army at Fort Douglas, Utah. Early in World War II she joined the U.S. Navy and was trained as a Link Trainer operator and spent a year and a half at the Naval Air Station, Beeville, Texas, teaching Navy cadets basic instrument flight training and radio navigation. It was while there that she met her future mate who was a Naval Aviation Cadet undergoing training. Her prowess as a basketball player and his playing on the station basketball team drew them close together. In early spring of 1944 Ava was transferred to Naval Air Station Sand Point (Seattle, WA) where she trained to teach celestial navigation, also in a huge training simulator. Following that training she was sent to Naval Air Station North Island (San Diego, CA) where she helped train Navy patrol plane crews in trans-ocean pilotage.  Her basketball player cadet boyfriend, Ensign Frank C. Gilmore USNR served on the East Coast while she was stationed on the West Coast. They married June 7, 1945 in Los Angeles, CA just prior to his going west to the war in the Pacific. Their marriage was later solemnized in the Logan LDS temple. Following the war they both enrolled at Utah State Agricultural College (USU) where she studied children literature while he studied forestry and played basketball. In the two and a half years in Logan she did half of her degree and had her first two children. In June of 1948 he returned to the navy and in the following 28 years they served in various Navy bases on all three coasts of the U.S. with the bulk being in CA. In summer of 1972 they were sent to Salt Lake City where he served out his last four years. Having moved her home and six children 25 times in her married life she and Frank put their anchor down in the Canyon Rim area where they have spent the past 33 years. Ava has always been an active member of the LDS Church having served numerous times in all women's positions. The strength and devotion she had dedicated to her husband and her children that she had displayed during the five years of separation caused by Navy carrier deployments she applied to her church positions serving her faith well. Ava is survived by her husband, Frank C. Gilmore; children, Catherine of Portland, OR; Scott C. of Salt Lake City, Douglas L. (Leslie) of Murray, Sandra of Portland, OR, Michael J. (Lori) Manchester, CT, Suzanne (Mike) Earl Murray; 23 grandchildren; seven great-grand-children; brother, James of Declo, ID; sister, Ida May Bell of Long Beach, CA. She is preceded in death by her parents. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, June 19, 2004, at 11:00 a.m. at the Canyon Rim 3rd Ward, 3051 South 2900 East, Salt Lake City. Friends may call on Friday evening from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Holbrook Mortuary, 3251 South 2300 East, and at the church on Saturday from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. prior to the services. Interment: Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park. Funeral Directors; The Holbrook Mortuary. In lieu of flowers the family suggests that contributions be made to the Alzheimer's Association. The family would like to thank the staff of Silverado Nursing Home for their loving care during Ava's two and a half years there and an especially warm thank you to Roxan Austin and Hillary Watson for their tender loving care of Ava this past year.