The Weather Channel lost a loyal viewer on November 28th when Ted B. Gilmore of Lenexa succumbed to cancer at the age of 77 after bravely fighting an eighteen month battle.
Mr. Gilmore was born in Atchison, KS in February of 1943 to Theodore and Jessie Maye Gilmore, who would soon relocate their family, including older sisters Sarah Stevens (Overland Park) and Carolyn Cameron (Lehi, UT), to Westwood, KS- preferring the suburban Kansas City enclave to the “hustle and bustle” of nearby Atchison. After occasionally attending Shawnee Mission High School, Mr. Gilmore enlisted in the U.S. Navy where he served out of Norfolk, VA and was deployed at sea aboard the U.S.S. Yancey off the coast of Cuba during the now infamous Bay of Pigs invasion. Following his honorable discharge, Mr. Gilmore began a career in sales that would span nearly five decades and forge lifelong friendships.
In spite of falling ill recently, family suggests that Mr. Gilmore had been living on borrowed time ever since a calamitous parasailing accident in Mazatlán in the mid 1980s. When a parachute’s landing apparatus cartoonishly snapped off in his hand, Ted was forced to crash land on the beach where he miraculously suffered only a knee injury, albeit a somewhat serious one. Not wanting to cut the vacation short and never one to spoil a good time, especially for that of others, he did the only logical thing he could: he purchased crutches out of the trunk of a local pharmacist’s car and dulled the pain with margaritas. That’s just the type of gregarious person he was- a natural conversationalist with a self-effacing sense of humor that will be fondly remembered for generations to come.
Ted continued to play fast and loose with his own well-being by ardently supporting the Chiefs and Royals. While the franchises’ efforts in the 80s and 90s, respectively, nearly killed him, he was elated to witness their recent success while being surrounded by family.
Mr. Gilmore is survived by his wife of fifty-two years, Linda (Lenexa), son Scott (Gardner, KS), daughter-in-law Erin, grandchildren Theodore (18), Abbey (14), and Molly (11) & son Theodore (Los Angeles, CA), daughter-in-law Penelope and grandson Julian (3).
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, memorial arrangements are TBD. In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests donations be made to standuptocancer.org.