Mexia Daily News - Feb. 20, 2004 edition

Robert Wayne (Bob) Gilliam, Sr.

TEAGUE - Funeral services for Robert Wayne (Bob) Gilliam, Sr., 66, of North
Richland Hills, will be held this afternoon at 2 o'clock in Ricks-Bowers
Funeral Home Chapel. The Rev. Paul Gauntt of Eighth Avenue Baptist Church, will
officiate. Burial will be in Salem Cemetery, with Naval honors.

Mr. Gilliam, born Jan. 25, 1938, in Teague, died Tuesday at North Richland
Hills Medical Center (Tarrant County). He was a Baptist and a 1956 graduate of
Teague High School.

He was a member of Corsicana Lodge 174, and a Shriner. After receiving his
Bachelor's of Science degree in Engineering from the University of
Texas-Arlington, he worked for LTV in New Orleans on the first rocket engine to
the moon.

Returning to Texas, he went to work for the U.S. Defense Department at Bell
Helicopter, overseeing electrical systems for 30 years, including work on the
Osprey Helicopter. He had gone to work for the Department of Defense in the
Plant Representative Office at Bell in 1965. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Bob
served as the Government Electrical/Avionics Project Engineer on all of Bell
Helicopter's U.S. military programs from 1965 until 1995, when he retired.

Mr. Gilliam was responsible for overseeing the design, configuration
management, parts qualification, testing and fielding of U.S. Government
helicopters produced by Bell. During his career at the government Plant
Representative Office at Bell Helicopter, Mr. Gilliam received many awards for
his technical suggestions for improvement and cost savings on government
helicopter programs.

He was well-respected as an expert in his field and left behind many friends
and associates at Bell Helicopter, The U.S. Army Aviation command, and the Navy
Air System Command.

He is preceded in death by his parents; by a sister,Gladys Patrick, and by a
brother, Arlton Blake Gilliam.

Surviving are a son, Robert Wayne Gilliam, Jr., of Fort Worth; a daughter, Rita
Lynn Gilliam of Fort Worth; a son, James Wayne Gilliam of Wortham; two
grandchildren - Christopher Paul Hatfield and Kristina Lynn Hatfield of North
Richland Hills; two brothers, James A. Gilliam of Teague and Haskell Gilliam of
Fairfield; and two sisters, Grace Holmes of Teague and Linda Sims of Mexia.
Numerous nieces and nephews also survive.