Millicent R. Gilley

Millicent Roy Gilley passed away peacefully in her home on September 6, 2022. Millicent was born on Friday, August 13th , 1926. She was the only daughter and third child of Minnie F. and Boswell Glenn Roy of Newport News, Virginia who had been life long residents of the Peninsula. She had been preceded in death by her oldest brother, Boswell Glenn “B.G.” Roy Jr. Her younger brother Carl F. Roy survived her but has since passed away on October 21 st . 2022.

Millicent is also survived by her four children: Robert Roy of Kinnelon, New Jersey, Gil Gilley and Glenn Gilley who reside in James City County, Virginia and Genez Gilley Malebranche of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Before this notice could be published, Genez Malebranche has also passed away. Millicent is also survived by five grandchildren and one great grandchild all but one living in eastern Virginia. The names of her grandchildren are: Glenn Roy Gilley II, Grant Gilley, Chantal Malebranche, Miro Malebranche and Lauren Roy who lives in Milford, Jew Jersey. Millicent's great grandchild is Aiden Gilley who also resides in James City County, Virginia.

Millicent graduated from Newport News High School in 1944 after which she attended Marjorie Webster Junior College. She had been taking dance classes since her early teens. After leaving Marjorie Webster, she made her way to New York, NY and began dancing professionally. While working on Broadway, she met and worked with a number of the more celebrated people of the day including composer, song writer, and conductor Raymond Arthur Bloch who later worked on the Ed Sullivan Show.

She soon landed a part as a chorus girl in the show “Burlesque” at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway where she worked with the infamous Burt Lahr who played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz.

While working at the Belasco Theatre, she was photographed in costume as part of a feature article about New York City that ran in the November, 1949 issue of Paris Match magazine. The publication was European and comparable to Life magazine published in the US about the same time. Her picture became the front cover for that month's edition and is shown nearby.

While living in New York, she also met her future husband, Herschel Gilley who was then managing the Shubert theatrical prop business. They were married on June 25, 1949. Millicent and Herschel moved from New York to southern California in 1952 and then to Newport News, VA in 1953. By 1955 they had moved to Williamsburg, VA and Millicent had begun working as a Receptionist for the Colonial Williamsburg foundation at the newly built Information Center just off the Colonial Parkway near the restored area of the town. In the mid 1960's Millicent got the opportunity to reestablish her career in show business when she began working as an assistant in the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Audio Visual Department. Through the creation of photos, film strips and movies, the group she worked with served to promote awareness of and interest in the foundation and its mission. They also promoted tourism, documented archaeological and restoration activities and created full length movies of many of the 18th century crafts that were practiced in Williamsburg at the time of the Revolutionary War. Many of these works have since been digitized and are still available today. By 1969, She had been promoted to the position of Unit Manager. She served in that position until she retired in 1988. All the while she worked, she was a generous caring and loving mom to her children and made sure their needs were addressed before her own. It was only after she became an “empty nester” in the early 1980's that she found time to pursue her interest in the culinary arts where her focus was primarily in the art of preparing Chinese food.

Millicent's love and appreciation for oriental art and culture extended beyond the art of preparing Oriental meals. Her home was decorated almost entirely in an East Asian style comprised of elements from China, Japan, Vietnam and Thailand. Throughout her life she continued to add to the collection she surrounded herself with that she enjoyed so much.

For many decades she was the nucleus of the family. She relished bringing the family together to celebrate any and all occasions from birthdays to holidays and did so until she was no longer able to continue.

Her passing has left a giant hole in the fabric of our family. A hole that will not be mended quickly and perhaps never completely. We miss her very much yet know she is in a better place.