Gene Gilliland has a love for community that some would call unparalleled.
An active member of the business community, Gilliland serves as a liaison in several Chamber organizations throughout the region, hoping to advance business and thus economic development throughout Marshall County. Gilliland was involved in community assessment and planning for Interstate 69 construction in the county, and was instrumental in developing a strategic plan for growth at Community Financial Services Bank, where he’s been employed for the last several years.
Co-worker Jeremy Rose said Gilliland has been a valuable asset to the bank and its staff as both a friend and mentor.
“He’s been a confidant for me, you know, if I’ve just wanted some advice or wanted to talk to somebody,” Rose said. “He’s always been there, and I know he’s got a level head. … He’s a really, really unique individual in all that he’s involved in. He just never seems to lose (time), that 24 hours in a day, he seems to have like 25-26 hours in a day with the stuff that he’s got. … He seems like he’s a never ending ball of energy.”
And that may be so. In addition to his work in the business community, Gilliland is heavily involved numerous civic organizations and initiatives. An active member of the Lions Club, Benton Partnership and coordinator for the annual Big Singing, Rose said it’s a testament to his love of people. Gilliland, he said, has never met a stranger, having cultivated personal connections with a boisterous laugh and constant smile that mean more than the superficial.
“I think he probably knows everybody in western Kentucky,” Rose said. “… He really does care, and it’s not just lip service, the ‘Oh yeah, your name is such-and-such,’ and go on. I mean he really does take an interest in you and try to find out more about you. I think that’s an admirable quality that not everybody can truly have.”
That love of people helps drive Gilliland to work for the betterment of the community at large. Longtime friend and fellow Lions Club member Kevin Byars said Gilliland is the epitome of good citizenship. Gilliland was instrumental in obtaining the camera to do prescreening and referrals for eye exams the Lions Club administers to children at the back-to-school bash and various other community events as part of the club’s efforts to help those who need assistance to receive affordable eye care.
In addition to Lions Club initiatives, Byars said Gilliland volunteered with the Benton Partnership to coordinate and participate in various local events, such as the annual Dickens Christmas. Gilliland also sits on the Mobilizing Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) committee, which plans and begins inititives designed for improving community health. An avid athlete who competes in triathalons, the health of those around him is important to Gilliland.
Helping those who need it most is also of particular import to Gilliland. He worked to organize and publish a one-stop directory of resources for those in need of community and government assistance. Gilliland also speaks sign language, and volunteers to help within the deaf community.
“He’s a very, very community-oriented person,” Byars said. “… He is very willing and able. All you have to do is ask him, and he’s there to help out. … Whatever he wants to do for the community, that’s his goal.”
More than anything, Byars said Gilliland was dependable and defined what it meant to be a good friend.
“He is true friendship,” Byars said. “Because I guarantee you I could call on Gene at any time and if I needed help, he’d be there to help. That’s just type of person he is. He has been a really good friend, not only to me, but to the sheriff’s office and the community as a whole. I don’t think you could find a better friend just to be honest with you. I think a lot of him.”
Still, his highest priorities remain faith and family. Gilliland, who has a Masters of Divinity and a Doctorate in Church Growth, served as a minister for the Benton Church of Christ through the late 1980s and 1990s. While no longer a practicing minster, his faith is still just as strong, said his oldest daughter Bethany Willcutt. Gilliland still participates in many of the same practices he did during his time as a minister, including visiting with residents in the hospital and officiating funeral services.
It could be said, he has a servant’s heart. But he doesn’t do it for recognition, Willcutt said.
“He really loves this area,” Willcutt said. “And I think he does have a servant’s heart, but he also loves this area, and so he does things for the betterment of the community because he cares so much about it. … He calls it his little Mayberry, and he just loves it.”
His love of God plays a significant role, as well.
“He just loves God, and that’s part of that servant’s heart,” Willcutt said. “… What he believes is to follow God and be Christ like is to serve, and you know there’s all these examples of Jesus in the Bible serving others, so that’s part of where all that service comes from. He loves the community, but he also loves God and feels like that’s something that he’s called to do. … I think that that’s one of the most important things for him is that he raised his children to love God, and he sets a great example for that.”
His devotion to faith and family is something Gilliland strives to pass on to others, as well; he was heavily involved in beginning Marshall County Family Week, a nonprofit effort devoted to helping families focus on their time together.
Willcutt said family was always a focus in her father’s life, and the things he prioritizes in his life were never just for show. It’s those qualities that made him what she said he is to her: a hero.
“He has always shown that he puts his family first, and that I was always very special to him,” Willcutt said. “I just have a very special relationship with him because I’m his daughter and little girl, but you know, I can remember one time when I was like 4 or 5, and he had these trophies out for I think it was bowling or something. I was not supposed to touch them and I did, and I broke it. And I was just crying because he told me not to and I figured I was going to get spanked. And he hugged me and he told me that I mattered more to him than the trophy. It just meant so much to me in my little kid brain.
“… He’s just one of, as far as like the most godly, Christian good people you can think of,” she added. “And I know him and have seen him at home when no one is watching. He is it. He doesn’t like, cuss when no one is watching, or like drink when no one is watching. Like all that stuff that we all do when no one is watching? He doesn’t do any of it.”