Janet Ruth (Rubinowitz) Gilman

Janet Ruth Rubinowitz Gilman died August 20, 2023 at age 81. She was born May 19, 1942 in Evansville, Indiana to Bernard and Helen Rubinowitz and raised in Muskegon, Michigan (she called Lake Michigan her lake). Her family moved to Irving, Texas when she was 16. Her three brothers, Burt, David and Jake, survive her as well as her two children, Renee and Ronald; three grandchildren, Jennifer, Aaron and Madison; two great-grandchildren, Kyra and Violet; and two stepchildren whom she loved as her own, Adam and Andy Gilman.

Janet had an eventful life. At 19, she met and married Bob Dillon who became career Army. He is the father of her two children and predeceased her. She lived with him while stationed in Germany and Okinawa. She was fluent in four languages: French, German, Spanish, and of course, English. She was afraid of flying but at a friend’s urging joined the friend in ground school and then couldn’t get out of her first flight. She loved it and became an accomplished pilot and then flight instructor. She worked for several aerospace companies, most recently Raytheon Technical Services Co in Indianapolis, always in procurement, most recently as sub-contract administrator. She loved playing the guitar, piano, and clarinet. Janet also had a beautiful singing voice.

As a teenager, she went to a conclave at Temple Bethel in South Bend, Indiana, where she met David Gilman. They hit it off and spent the rest of the weekend together. She went back to South Bend to be David’s senior prom date. After she married Bob Dillon, they lost touch. In 1991, David was divorced and after his efforts to find her were unsuccessful, he hired a private detective. Janet had remarried and moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado. The detective talked to her on the day before Thanksgiving in 1991. Janet called David at his law office the following Monday, December 2, 1991. Twenty-five days later, on December 27, 1991, she had left her husband (it was not a happy marriage), filed for divorce, quit two jobs, shipped all her worldly goods to Indiana, and was driving to the Denver airport to meet David’s airplane. They had not seen each other for 33 years, and he thought she was absolutely beautiful when he first saw her. Janet married David Gilman one year later to the day and had a most wonderful marriage. It was a true love story.

David wishes to thank Copper Trace Senior Living and Compassus Hospice for their care of Janet.

A memorial service will be held at Aaron Ruben Nelson Mortuary, 11411 North Michigan Rd, on Friday, August 25, 2023 at 1 PM. To view the livestream, click here.