1918
2013
Esther Gilmore was the music woman, not only as the owner of a landmark music store but as a singer. She was also the mother of four, an activist with many community organizations and cared for her mother, who lived to 103. Gilmore died Tuesday. She was 95. Gilmore was born Sept. 19, 1918, in Havelock, Iowa. The family moved to the Bellflower area about six years later. Gilmore graduated from Excelsior High School in 1936. She earned an associate of arts at Long Beach City College and then studied education at Whittier College. Gilmore was juggling a potential career as a singer and her life as a wife, as Glenn Gilmore had entered her life, when she competed in a talent contest at Long Beach City College. Gilmore, who led a dance band, the Glenn Gilmore Band, invited her to join the group. They performed throughout the Southland, including at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles and the former Pacific Coast Club on Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach. The couple married in 1941. A few years later, in 1946, after Glenn Gilmore retired from the band, the pair started up the music store, Gilmore Music, at Seventh Street and Cherry Avenue in Long Beach. Initially, Glenn Gilmore repaired musical instruments; then he rented instruments to high school students, along with sound-proof rooms to music instructors. Esther Gilmore did bookkeeping at the store. She had their first child, Kathleen, in 1944, then Laurie in 1946, Greg in 1948 and Clinton in 1950. The children were all taught to play instruments. The singer also dived into community activities, including Las Hermanas, part of the Assistance League. She also was president of the Long Beach Symphony Association. She was a member of the auxiliary to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Encore - a group for past presidents of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, the Republican GOP Juniors, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Salvation Army auxiliary, a Boy Scouts parent and choir member of Our Savior's Lutheran Church. As Esther Gilmore's aging mother, Faye Cleveland, became weaker, the singer would travel to her Bellflower home to feed her meals. It was a routine she followed for a couple of years until she was moved to the Long Beach household where she died in 1990 at 103. Esther Gilmore is survived by her four children, Kathleen Soderholm and Laurie, Gregory and Clinton Gilmore. Visitation is scheduled for today, 3-5 p.m., at Luyben Family Dilday-Mottell Mortuary, 5161 Arbor Road, Long Beach. Services are set for 11 a.m. Saturday at Our Savior's Lutheran Church, 370 Junipero Ave. She will be buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park.
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3 Entries
December 20, 2013
Sharon Giarratano
Wow! What a legacy. A performing singer and store owner, and mother!
PEACE to ALL.
May your legacy live on and on as it does on 7th St. and Cherry Ave!
It is so nice to see the store thriving, with the Gilmore name at such a landmark location. I am keeping your whole family in my thoughts.
Take care Gilmore Family, ~~~Sharon Giarratano
December 20, 2013
Jack and Olga ADELMAN
We send our condolences to the Gilmore family.
December 19, 2013
Arlyss Burkett
Blessings to Esther's family. We enjoyed many happy times with Esther at musicales of the Long Beach Auxiliary, Los Angeles P:hilharmonic.
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