Obituary

Louise feeney gillooly died in charleston, west virginia, on april 13, 2018. She was 97.

Louise moved to charleston in 2011 from buckhannon (west virginia), her long-time residence. She was born in clarksburg on april 4, 1921, when there was not yet a hospital in weston, where she grew up. Her father was cecil feeney, who owned and operated feeney chevrolet in weston. Her mother was anastasia “stasia” feeney, neã© murphy, who was raised near butcher fork, in lewis county. Louise’s father cecil was from roanoke, west virginia.

Her only sibling, james robert feeney (“bob” to his family; “jim” to his comrades-in- arms) was killed in 1941 when the b-17 he captained was shot down over holland, while returning to england from a raid over nazi germany. Louise is survived by her son, tom gillooly of charleston; maureen gillooly of middle grove, new york; kate gillooly of ashland, oregon, and anne gillooly miller of indianapolis. Her son bob died in 2010. She had six grandchildren, kevin and brian miller of indianapolis; kellen and rylan mccommons of ashland, oregon, and david gillooly and erin coller of san diego. She had two great-grandchildren.

Louise met her husband tom at west virginia university in morgantown. The second world war put an early end to her college studies. She worked as a secretary in washington during the war and liked to recount the habit of mayor fiorello laguardia of new york, who would toss his famous fedora onto her desk when he came to washington for meetings of the municipal league.

Louise was a lifelong democrat and was active in the west virginia democratic party. She hosted campaign workers for barack obama at her buckhannon home during his 2008 presidential run, campaigning proudly for obama in heavily republican buckhannon and upshur county. She was a reliable supporter of the arts, working to raise funds for music education and supporting the west virginia symphony. She served as an officer on the board of buckhannon’s

municipal library and was a reliable, “go-to” volunteer for many community causes. Louise was widely admired for her intelligence, her tact, her charitable nature, and her positive outlook on life. A member of the extended gillooly family once described her as the least judgmental person he had ever know.

Louise participated regularly in exercise classes at the charleston ymca. As recently as six months before she died, she regularly drove a 96-year-old friend with failing eyesight to their ymca classes.

Memorial celebrations of louise’s life will be scheduled at a later date.

Gifts may be made to the west virginia botanic garden, which will plant a memorial garden in remembrance of louise and others: wvbg.Org.