Home is where the heart is

Thursday, September 11, 2014
MADELINEDEJOURNETTadvancensc@sbcglobal.net Cindy and Paul Gillliland stand outside the Advance United Methodist Church, where he is a deacon, and she works with children and sings in the choir.

When Paul Gilliland graduated from Hillsboro College and Southeast Missouri State University, he could have accepted a high-paying job with Monsanto in St. Louis. He had degrees in Animal Technology, biology, and chemistry. He had worked ten years as a vet tech and was within five hours of completing an agri-business degree.

A move north would have been a good financial decision, but that was not the choice that he and his wife Cindy (Wiggins) Gilliland made.

"I couldn't see raising our kids in St. Louis," admits this dedicated family man. "All our family was here around Advance--grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins... We wanted our children to have the grandparent love that we had."

Cindy and Paul Gilliland grew up in nearby towns. Cindy went to school in Advance, and Paul attended school in Zalma, located in the hills about ten miles west.

"We tried to date for two years," Cindy says. "We would see each other at ballgames, and we had mutual friends. He asked me to the prom, but we had to go with other people. Then, he went off to college for two years."

When the couple finally hooked up for their first date, they went to a dance at the K.C. Hall in Leopold, Missouri, a town just a few miles north of Advance.

"They don't have dances like that anymore," Cindy says.

They also spent time together at the Gipsy Park, before the old bridge was torn down.

"Our families liked each other," Cindy says. "My dad and his dad were best friends; it was as if we had two mothers and two fathers, they were so close. Both mothers are our best friends."

It seems to have been inevitable that Paul and Cindy Gilliland would one day be wed.

"We think God put us together," Paul admits.

The couple was married on July 23, 1983.

In order to stay close to home, Paul Gilliland took a job with Griffin Truck Center in Advance. In fact, he has been in the heavy trucking industry for 25 years. Five years ago, he opened his own parts store in Advance called Ozark Farm & Truck.

"We had no way of knowing that the last two factories would leave Advance shortly after I opened my shop," says Gilliland. "One hundred families were employed in those factories. It made a big difference in the economy of the town."

As a result, Paul's dream of owning his own business was short-lived, so he again ventured out to nearby locations for employment.

Gilliland has served as parts manager for several trucking companies, including Duckett Truck Center (Sikeston, Poplar Bluff, and Culvert City, Ill.), Clark Power Service, and, currently, Wiethop Trucking in Cape Girardeau.

Following in her parents' footsteps, Cindy Gilliland chose teaching as a profession, thus enabling her to stay close to home and still use her degrees. The demand for good math teachers has always been high.

Sitting in a pew at their church, Advance Methodist, where the couple has attended for 25 years, Paul and Cindy Gilliland consider their advice on marriage.

"I've always heard it said that you should never go to bed mad," Paul says. "If you don't talk, it builds. But primarily, I believe that without God in our lives, we have nothing."

The family looks forward to the March return of their daughter Tori Landing and their grandson Blake. Tori graduates in May with a degree in veterinary medicine and will, like her father, make her home in the Advance area. Like her mother, she has married a Zalma boy, so the family tradition continues with Mr. and Mrs. Tim Landing.

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