Historical Stories and Biographies: June 2023

Howard Joseph Gilles was born on Jan. 4, 1920, in Kickapoo. He was the son of Edward and Lucy Brutcher Gilles and when he was born, his father, Edward Ignatz Gilles, was 39 and his mother, Lucy Brutcher, was 37. He married Gladys F. Heinz (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/43737628/gladys-f-gilles) on Jan. 11, 1941, in Kickapoo. She passed away Sept. 10, 2006, in Kickapoo.

Howard took over the Gilles family farm at the age of 16, assisted by his younger brother Paul, after his father passed away in 1936. He would plant twenty acres of corn a day with a fork planter that would plant two rows at a time and continued farming the Hietter/Gilles "Centennial Farm" for 75 years. The farmland was purchased by Howard's great grandfather Francis X. Hietter, who had come to the US from Alsace. He grew up with four sisters and two brothers. To Howard and Gladys were born two sons and three daughters.

Howard and Gladys were married on the same day, and three years apart, as Edwin and Dorothy Heinz Gilles. Howard was Edwin's younger brother by nine years, and Gladys was Dorothy's younger sister. Those two couples were always very close. Howard and Dorothy ended up at the same retirement home and played euchre right up until their last days!

Howard was a 4-H leader with the Kickapoo Early Birds for 14 years. He served on the USDA Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee (ASCS) for 30 years. He was a trustee for Rosefield Township for 34 years. Starting in 1936, he also acted in plays with Mary Gilles, Annie Schmitt and F. T. Beck as the coaches. They would play the Grange Hall as well as Dunlap and Kickapoo. He liked to make rhubarb, grape and elderberry wine and he would make two barrels of grape wine with one wine being a light colored sweeter one and the other a dark colored wine. He also made light colored beer. He also enjoyed hunting coons, especially with his coon dog “Old Bullet” and most years he and his hunting group got over a hundred coons. He also liked riding horses and got his first horse, “Pacer” that became his main riding horse.

Howard was well-known for his quality Holstein cows and raised quality purebred Duroc hogs. Howard enjoyed showing his livestock at local fairs with his family, entering either in dairy cows or swine at the Heart of Illinois Fair for 54 years, winning heaps of awards, trophies, and ribbons. He last showed hogs with his great-grandchildren in 2004.

Howard enjoyed playing baseball and softball, playing on several teams, spanning six decades. He was a catcher and outfielder and he started playing in school first playing on the Kickapoo teams when Father Mey came in 1934. The younger kids at the time had to form their own team and Father Mey bought them all new suits and Howard would play four or five games a week, catching a game on Saturday and sometimes, a double header on Sunday. When the ball field had a lighting system installed in Kickapoo there were many games scheduled at night by the “Red League”. That league included the Prairie Farmer’s Dairy, the Farm Bureau team, the Roselles’ Dairy team, the Pottstown team, and the Caterpillar team. They all played in Kickapoo! Edward “Shot” Gilles (Gilles Tap owner) managed the team and they traveled all over. Shot drove a ’35 Terraplane and after a ball game was over, he would pop the trunk lid where he kept an old copper boiler filled with ice, and they would drink beer. After a last-minute change in the lineup in 1937 Howard played on the State Farm Bureau team in the tournament in Champaign and they won the State Championship. In 1938 the Service Company managed by Carl Heinz headed to Champaign with pitcher “Fireball Victory” from Pottstown, pitcher “Steve Cravens” of Peoria and “Screwball” Johnson from Princeville. It was a championship game Howard would never forget. They were leading four to three and the other team had the last bat with two outs. Howard was playing left field; Lefty Coyle was center field and Bernard Cluskey was playing right field. They hit a fly ball out to Cluskey and Cluskey dropped the catch, giving them second place instead of first, in an instant, after the two-run score. Later Howard played in the “35 ‘ers” when they went to the championship in Springfield. This team consisted of only 35-year-old players, but at 33 Howard was told, “just take off your cap”. His balding head showing, he was in! They played and they won the championship. They would also play a rival team called the “Old Has Beens” that they beat three years in a row at one time. He played well into his 50’s, catching three or four innings every game.

Howard was a longtime member of the Peoria County Farm Bureau, of which he was the well-deserved recipient of the 2009 Ag Service Award. Howard always enjoyed playing cards and was a competitive Euchre player. He was also a charter member of the Kickapoo Sportsman's Club, and he was a life-long member of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Kickapoo

Howard passed away at 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 4, 2012, at the OSF St. Clare Home.

Sources:

Howard Gilles Oral History 8/21/1995 and other family member oral histories.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/86778718/howard-j-gilles