Wayne Gilliam

FUNERAL SERVICE:  2:00 P.M. Friday, January 17, 2020, at Comanhe Funeral Home Chapel. BURIAL:  Downing Cemetery in Comanche County. VISITATION:  Family will receive friends at Comanche Funeral Home on Thursday, January 16, 2020, from 6:00 P.M. until 8:00 P.M.  LUNCH:  Lunch for the family will be at 11:30 A.M. on Friday, January 17, 2020, at Taylor’s Chapel Church in Comanche County.   Wayne D. Gilliam Sr. “Curley”, age 92, left this world and went to his heavenly home on Monday, January 13, 2020, in Odessa, Texas. He was born on July 26, 1927, in Comanche County, Texas, to Wayne and Alice (Barrick) Gilliam.  He graduated from Sidney High School in 1944, joined the United States Navy shortly after and served on the USS Ranger.  He married Mary Lois Evans on June 22, 1948, and they had four children.  He was a devoted husband loving father.  Curley was a machinist by trade and was dedicated to his work.  He took his ‘farmboy’ common sense to build tools needed to fix problems in the oil field.  He worked for a number of machine shops in the Odessa area until he opened his own business, known as “Curley’s Machine Shop”.  After many successful years he retired to his beloved birthplace in Comanche to do what he loved – farming.  He had many loves in his life: family, land, tractors, ice cream, animals (especially Brownie, his dog) and Taylor’s Chapel. He is survived by his wife Mary Lois Gilliam of Comanche; children: daughter, Ann (Gilliam) Self and husband Ronnie of Odessa and son, Wayne D. Gilliam, Jr. “Butch” and wife Carrie of Odessa; nine grandchildren: Denece, Cory, Amanda, Roxann, Cindy, Andy, Brandi, Heather, and Ashlee; twenty great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren; and sister, Oleta Weaver of College Station.  He also had many cherished nieces and nephews.