Reverend William K. Gilmore, Deacon, [email protected], (239) 992-4343

I was born in Portsmouth Virginia in 1959. At the age of 5 my family moved to southern California. In 1979 I joined the Army as a Paratrooper and Pathfinder looking for college money and some travel. Retiring 21 years later as a First Sergeant, I had traveled all over the world and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Troy State College in Alabama.

While serving in the Army I met my wife Susan and my first daughter Haley was born in 1983. My second daughter Callie was born nine months after I retired in 2001. My family moved to southwest Florida in 2000 and for the next 15 years I worked with my brother in construction material supply companies. In 2005 we built a home in Bonita Springs Florida and started attending Saint Mary’s. At Saint Mary’s I was involved in numerous ministries and was also junior warden. I am currently the property superintendent for the First Presbyterian Church Bonita located next door to Saint Mary’s

In 2015 I began the discernment process for ordination into the Deaconate of the Episcopal Church. During the next few years, I attended the school of ministry Deaconate program and spent an 18-month internship at Saint Hillary’s in Fort Myers. I was ordained in December of 2018 and assigned back to Saint Mary’s and once a month to Good Shepherd in Labelle Florida.

As a deacon I act as a bridge between the community and the parish. I bring the needs and concerns of our community to the parish and help to bring the parish out into the community. To these ends I am a member on the board of Love in the Name of Christ (LOVE INC). I also participate in many community activities and I invite the community to parish events such as the blessing of the animals and Veteran’s Day services.

Prayer is an integral part of what I do. The importance of prayer cannot be understated and is also part of outreach. We established a program called Comma – asking people to take a pause for prayer. Prayer request boxes are located in and around the parish including the thrift store. There are also prayer boxes located at the First Presbyterian Thrift Store and preschool. Once a week the prayer requests are gathered together and I ask people to join me after the worship service to pray for these requests. Many have found this to be a moving experience.

Comma will continue after the stay at home orders are lifted .