Community legend honored in Gilliland Park

Nov. 14—"He was just a heck of a nice guy," Oceana Mayor Tom Evans said of Coach Gene Gilliland during ceremonies Nov. 12, in Gilliland Park, to dedicate a new plaque honoring the beloved community legend.

"He was an icon," Evans said, "a man anybody could pattern their life after.

"If Coach could say anything about today, it would be that none of this is needed," Evans emphasized. "He was very humble. He didn't expect anything."

Evans said he could picture Gilliland mowing the park, wearing his trademark hat.

"It would be 90 degrees and he would be out there working," the mayor noted.

"And, when I think of the jobs the two created," Evans said of Gilliland and his wife, who worked alongside him at the park, in helping area youth.

Evans said they gave his daughter her first job, which paid $4 an hour.

"And I thanked them for it, because it helped," Evans said.

Gilliland (1924-2020) was named general park and pool supervisor in 1960 when the pool first opened in the park.

He and his wife, Lolita, supervised the park and pool for nearly half a century.

After her death in 2005, he continued to work at the park until he was 90 years of age.

A World War II Marine veteran, Gilliland also taught chemistry, physics, and math at Oceana High School for more than three decades while coaching freshman basketball, football, and track.

He is still affectionally known as "Coach" to his students, players, and the community. His wife was known as "Granny."

At the suggestion of Jesse Womack, one of Gilliland's former students, the town council renamed the park in the couple's honor in 1999.

"When you think of Coach, you've got to think of his wife," said Randall Topping, one of Gilliland's former players who also worked at the pool and spearheaded the fundraising efforts for the new plaque.

Topping described Lolita as having "an uncanny sense of humor" and shared one of her practical jokes with the former players, students, and community members attending the ceremonies.

"She was always a fun person to be around," he said.

He described boys from several grade schools around the area at the time he was a high school freshman.

"You talk about raw talent...," he said with a laugh.

Topping went on to describe his own inability at basketball.

"But there was a man who saw something in me...," he said of Gilliland.

He noted that Gilliland once said he wasn't building teams, but building young men.

Larry Mathis, a retired coach who was also one of Gilliland's players, said the area where the amphitheater now sits was nothing but a swamp when he first met Gilliland.

He said his mom and dad owned Larry's Drive-In across the road from the park, near Hopkins' Supermarket and Cook Ford Sales.

"There wasn't much here at that time, but this was the hot area," Mathis said.

The pool was so crowded at that time, officials had to blow a whistle to empty the pool, "to see if anybody had drowned," Mathis noted. "It wasn't like it is today."

He compared his first meeting with Gilliland to the Mr. McBeevee story on "The Andy Griffith Show."

He was about 5 years old at the time and had slipped off from his parents. He ventured down into what is now the park.

"I thought I saw a monster," he recalled. "It scared me to death."

He ran back home to get his brothers. What he'd seen was Gilliland wearing a welder's mask.

"I'd never seen that before.

"The hand-made slicky-slides that were here (in the park) for so long — Coach made those himself," Mathis said.

For several years after the mask incident, Mathis' mom would make Kool-Aid and he would go off to the park and "aggravate Coach."

"He gave me a job (at the pool) handing out baskets and paid me a quarter an hour," Mathis said. "I know he paid me out of his own pocket."

Topping unveiled the plaque, sitting in a spot that overlooks the park, which reads, "For a life-long dedication to serving our Lord, our community, and mentoring of our youth. His influence shall never be forgotten."

A memorial service followed in Oceana United Methodist Church, where Gilliland had been a longtime active member.

—Gilliland Park began as Laurel Park Playground in 1952, when the Oceana Woman's Club installed picnic tables and barbecue pits close to where the water plant building stood.

In 1954, in conjunction with the county Board of Education, the Oceana Rotary Club added to the park development on the property behind Oceana Grade School No. 2 (now Berlin McKinney Elementary). With assistance from other civic organizations and businesses, two tennis courts were constructed at a cost of $4,000, along with two shuffleboard courts, horseshoe pits, myriad playground equipment, picnic tables, outdoor fireplaces, and drinking fountains.

With the area's population continuing to increase, officials continued to discuss the possibility of adding a pool to complete the town's growing recreational offerings.

Those plans began in earnest when, on July 7, 1959, the Laurel Park Swimming Pool Committee was appointed by Oceana Mayor Jim Roberts and approved by the council. Robert Williams was named committee president; Dr. E.G. Shannon, vice president; Ray Neal, secretary; Ivan Daniels, assistant secretary; Hugh Miller, treasurer; Les Lively, assistant treasurer, and local attorney Fred Lokant served as legal advisor. The board of directors included Lloyd Blackburn, Herman Hopkins, Hobert Drake, Drewey Mitchell, Junior Laxton, Tom Smith, and J.D. Cook.

Groundbreaking ceremonies were conducted Aug. 28, 1959, and National Swimming Pool Equipment Company of Florence, Ala., was chosen to construct the 100-foot-by-45-foot pool at a cost of $75,000, according to a 1959 Beckley Post-Herald article.

The diving well was designed to be 35 feet by 35 feet, and the pool had a 210,000-gallon capacity.

The entire pool project also included a 100-foot-by-30-foot bathhouse complete with modern changing areas and restrooms, a concession area, and a 25-foot-by-40-foot observation and lounging pavilion in addition to a 30-foot-by-50-foot wading pool, with a depth of 9 to 15 inches, for younger children.

The town had trouble meeting the construction costs and, as a result, civic groups, businesses, and individuals contributed to the cause.

The pool committee also sold family pool passes for the 1960 season to help offset the costs.

In the end, Frank Laxton Jr., who was a committee member at the time, donated $10,000 so the pool could be completed and open as scheduled.

Grand opening ceremonies for the Laurel Park Swimming Pool were conducted May 28, 1960. In addition to Mayor Roberts, the guest speakers included Laxton, Raymond Eye of Beckley, Pineville Mayor Vaughn Stewart, county Schools Superintendent Jesse Morgan, and Judge R.D. Bailey of Pineville.