Mary Louise Gill

1931 - 2025

Mary Louise Gill

November 28, 1931 - July 14, 2025

BLOOMINGTON - Mary Louise (Meismer) Gill of Bloomington, Ill., formerly of Wyoming, Ill., passed away peacefully surrounded by family on July 14, 2025.

She will always be an amazing woman in the eyes of her husband, children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and extended family. Born in rural Benson to Joseph G. and Louisa M. (Schoff) Meismer on November 28, 1931, she married James W. Gill in Benson, Ill., in 1957. They made their home in Wyoming, Ill., where she raised her six children, worked, and volunteered for many community organizations.

Mary was educated in the one-room Toole School near Benson, then at Benson High. She received her RN from St. Francis School of Nursing in 1952. She worked as head nurse at the newly-built Pediatric wing of the St. Francis Children's Hospital and later at the Stark County Health Center in Toulon, Ill.

She volunteered for many organizations in both Wyoming and Bloomington, including serving as room mother and 4-H leader, Altar and Rosary Society member, and Red Cross Blood Services and hospice volunteer. She committed 30 years to the St. Vincent DePaul Society at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Bloomington, serving as secretary for many years and co-founding the organization's clothing pantry.

She loved to read, garden, travel, play Jeopardy and other trivia and board games, and she taught all her kids how to play poker and be good sports. She was big on family; hosting holiday gatherings and an annual Grandma Camp to make sure that the grandkids all knew, loved, and supported each other.

Mary is survived by her husband, Jim; their six children, Eileen Gill, Lisa (Frank) Gardner, Phillip (Anne) Gill, James P. (Marina) Gill, Kathleen (Danny) Walter, and Elizabeth (Kevin) Goff. She is also survived by seven grandchildren, Shane and Sarah Gill, Benjamin, Margaret and Joseph Goff, Allison Walter, and Rylee Gill; a special niece, Claudia Myers (Alan) Urech; and many other beloved nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by five brothers, Lewis, Harry, Merle, Irwin "Bob" and Orville "Tony" Meismer, and one sister, Erma (Meismer) Myers Coleman.

Her funeral mass will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Bloomington with Fr. Steven Loftus officiating. Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. until the time of the mass at the church. Kibler-Brady-Ruestman Memorial Home in Bloomington are assisting the family with arrangements.

Interment will be at 3 p.m. at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Camp Grove, Ill., with Monsignor Mark Merdian officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts should be sent to St. Vincent DePaul Society, Red Cross Central Illinois Chapter, or the St. Francis School of Nursing Alumni Scholarship fund.

Online condolences and memories of Mary may be left for her family at kiblerbradyruestman.com.