Obituary

Kharvina Nell Gilmore

January 9, 1950 - August 25, 2021

 

Kharvina "Kay" Nell Gilmore, 71, of Fort Worth passed away peacefully on August 25, at 4:37 AM after a long and courageous battle with cancer. She decided it was time to go home to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to see her father and mother, A. L. and Inez Devenport.

 

She was born January 9, 1950, in Dublin, Texas, home of the oldest Dr. Pepper bottling factory, which oddly enough became her absolute favorite drink that was always accompanied by sunflower seeds. She was the baby of four children, including Claude Devenport who proceeded her in death and wife Judy, Joreta Carter and husband Glenn of Jacksonville, Florida, and Geneva Buchanan of Graham, Texas, as well as her husband Curtis who become a dear friend as well as a brother in law and proved to be her arch nemesis in the wrestling ring.

 

She was a miracle and showed her tenacious character right from the start as her mother's appendix ruptured at the time of her birth, and they feared she might not make it. As soon as she was bottle fed, she was promptly kidnapped by her oldest sister as a replacement for her favorite baby doll and proceeded to win their hearts as she did with everyone she ever met.

 

She moved from Dublin to Fort Worth, where unbeknownst to her younger self, she met her future husband and love of her life, Billy Dwight Gilmore, when they played in the yard together as children when the two families attended the same church.

 

She moved from Fort Worth to Pantego for a brief time, only to jump to Georgia for a couple of years before returning to Arlington where she spent the majority of her younger years. She made a brief move to California and back when at the age of 17 she ran into her soulmate once again when he returned from Vietnam and upon seeing her said, "You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in this world." Alas, his cheesy pickup line, albeit a valid statement, worked, and three months later on February 20th, 1968, she was wed to Billy Gilmore, and their beautiful love saga began.

 

She is survived by her five children, Angela Hansen and husband Leo, Alexander Gilmore and wife Angela, Christopher Gilmore, Amanda Gilmore, and Alisha Price and wife Mesha, all of Fort Worth . She is also survived by nine grandchildren, Jordan, Haley, Chase, Kristen, Alexis, Kayla, Christal, Caydence, and Montana; and two great grandchildren, Aubrey, and Addie, as well as many loved nephews and nieces, Tommy, Lynn, Michael, Michelle, Kris, Doug, Cindy, Tim, Sancia, Story, Benji, Jack, Jennifer, Rick, Kenny, David, Sedeve, Dorinda, and last but not least Benji Gilmore.

 

She was a devoted wife, mother, sister, aunt, and grandmother, but most of all she was a devoted child of God. She taught her children and grandchildren to be kind, respectful, forgiving, and most of all to love. Love the way God does. To shine His light forth for all to see. She said that if the world would teach their children from the very beginning the principles of Christ, that all the world problems would be solved.

 

She loved music, hummingbirds, wildflowers, and animals of every kind. She loved reading and politics and talking about the Lord. She was as comfortable dancing in a dress as she was hanging a shelf in rough denim jeans and shined as radiant as the sun in both. She was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside. She was notoriously late to absolutely every single event she ever attended. She laughed at every single joke we ever told her and smiled with genuine joy to her very last day.

 

She loved to cook, and you couldn't visit her home without eating something, lest you be sent home with food including her last bag of sunflower seeds, only to be told not to worry, she could get another. She would always decorate for the holidays, and I mean every single holiday. She used to put on a latex nose and paint her face green with the iconic witches' hat, and she had the most glorious cackle you ever heard. She would answer the door in full garb and a smoking cauldron to hand out candy. She scared so many neighborhood children that our yard contained more candy than did their buckets, and even felt so bad she once chased down a kid trying to tell him it was ok, only to realize how she looked and broke into pure laughter. She would huddle everyone up to go see Christmas lights with hot cocoa and always found a way to add one more as our family grew ever larger. She always found a way to make every holiday special, no matter if we had little or plenty.

 

She touched so many people's lives in so many ways that they are too numerous to count. She leaves a void that cannot be filled, and if you were blessed to have known her even briefly, you understand all too well.

 

In her last days she asked to be celebrated not mourned. To be remembered, not grieved. To follow the example she left behind, and as Saint Francis of Assisi said, "Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words."

 

As a footnote, she explicitly stated to both Father and I and the pulmonologist who expressed his shock that she needed it added to her obituary that she did NOT in fact die of Covid.