[The following was written by Mark, Jill's husband.]
We'll start with a song, one of Jill's favorites, sung by Felicia Sorensen, from her "She Believes" CD:
For the love of a woman
For the love of a woman, a
man unlocks his heart, And reveals all the secerets it holds.
And
the love of a woman, will find his better part, When he gives her the
key to his soul.
He will open any door,
Leave the life he knew before,
As he promises to help her dreams
come true.
He will be her honest
friend, Stand beside her to the end.
All these things he will do,
For the love of a woman.
For the love of a woman, a
man gives everything, Her trust and devotion he seeks.
For the
love of a woman, he'll do most anything, To convince her he's all
that she needs.
He will listen to her
dreams, He will ask her what she needs.
He will help her build the
life she wants to live.
He will hold her when she cries, With a
love that never dies.
All these things he will give, For the love
of a woman.
For the love of a woman, a
man will sacrifice, While he waits for a moment of grace.
With the
love of a woman, a man will pay the price, For the trust that he sees
in her face.
And when he's afraid to
start, He will step into the dark
'Cause he knows she'll give his
eyes the power to see.
Though he's not a work of art, He will try
with all he's heart
To become the man she knows that he can be,
With the love of a woman.
He will give his life,
For
the love of a woman.
Music was a very big part of Jill's life and she had requested this song to be play at her services along with many others, but this one in particular tells how we feel about each other, how much love there is between us. Another song, sung by Collin Raye, called "In this life". Jill had copied down the words to sing. I wish I could sing it to her, the meaning would not change. The chorus is as follows:
Let the world stop
turnin'
Let the sun stop burnin'
Let them tell me love's not
worth going through
If it all falls apart
I will know deep in
my heart
The only dream that mattered had come true
In this
life I was loved by you
Jill
and I knew each other only a short time before we married. When we
did decide to get married Jill said that she would like to keep her
maiden name and add my last name. I never gave it a second thought.
It was something Jill wanted and I wanted Jill to be happy. Now I
know her reason for this, it was for the love and respect she had for
her parents, Pat and Gerry. They played such a very important role in
her life, and gave us uncompromising support throughout our marriage.
It may not have been possible without them.
This page is
suppose to be an update of Jilly Gorilly's where she tells a little
about herself and of her battle with leukemia. My beloved wife Jill,
passed away on the 19th of October 1996, but her memory will live in
all who knew her. Jill touched the heart of so many people and I
would like to share some of the kind words friends have to say of
her.
[The following was written by Michael, Jill's brother, on 3/2/2004.]
While celebrating the 18th birthday of Jill's daughter Kory this past weekend, the family decided to repost her site on the Internet after it had gone missing for several years. Mark was gracious enough to have kept a copy of her old homepage files along with the guestbook entries. As you can see from these entries, her site is/was frequently visited by friends and strangers alike. I've rehosted it here as a tribute and memorial to my sister whose fight (but ultimate loss) against leukemia made us all proud.
Below, I've included two e-mails that Jill had sent me during her illness:
Date: Sun, 3 Mar
1996 20:55:27 -0800 (PST)
From: Jilly Gorilly
<jilly@wolfenet.com>
To: Michael
Subject: They call this
living?
I guess I need to vent some of my negative side, and
no one wants to hear
it, but I figured since you are often
disillusioned with life like I am,
you're more likely to
understand.
It's been a rough day, and everyone gets mad at me
for having what I feel is
a realistic attitude. I'm not going to
pretend that this relapse isn't
happening. *I* know it, I feel it,
I see it all over my body. What's the
sense in having false hope?
Sure, there's always hope that it ISN'T
happening, but there's
strong physical evidence to suggest otherwise. Why
won't people
just accept what I'm already pretty darn sure of?
I hope that
no matter what happens, you can be there for me like you were
the
first time, offering me encouragement. Even though I can't deny
that
I'm getting sick again, I can always benefit from some
positive thinking and
imagery. You were a great source of strength
to me, please be here for me,
Michael, in whatever way you can, IF
you can.
Why is this happening to me?
I love you,
little brother.
Jill
GORILLAS DO IT IN THE
MIST
Ooooh-oooohhhh,
aaaaahhhh-aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! =8-O
----
Date: Sun, 10 Mar 1996
13:45:16 -0800
From: Jill <jilly@wolfenet.com>
To:
Michael
Subject: Love ya, little bro!
Hello, Michael. In a
hurry, but just wanted to say THANK YOU for making
reference to
me on your web page! It was very thoughtful of you, and I
love
you for it!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Jilly