A memorial service will be held on Saturday, October 17, 2020 at 1:00 PM, with a visitation starting at 12:00 noon, at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, 1600 Route 291, Liberty, MO 64068. Inurnment will immediately follow services in White Chapel Memorial Gardens, Gladstone, MO. During the visitation and service the church is requesting that you wear a mask at all times. With everything going on right now, my mom would completely understand if you do not wish to come or if you just come for the visitation and leave. She would not want you to put yourself at risk.
Verna Gayle Gillispie was born August 15, 1938 in Moberly, MO to James and Anna (Vallee) Mason. She met Ralph Gillispie when she was 13 and he 14 years of age. Her first job in high school was at Swarthouse Radio & Electric and later Orscheln's Break Lever in Moberly. She and Ralph married on September 11, 1960. They raised a deaf son and made sure he was driven 3 times a week to Children's Mercy Hospital for early childhood learning. Her and my dad were part of a task force which took the North Kansas City School District to the Missouri Supreme Court to make sure they hired teachers for the deaf..."No Child Left Behind" in the 1970's. She retired from Lift Truck Sales in Kansas City, MO. V. Gayle could light up a room with her laugh, her smile, her kindness and sweet spirit. She literally never met a stranger and would strike up a conversation everywhere she went. She never minded letting her kid's friends call her mom or grandma. She was strong in her faith and taught Awana with her great grandson for 4 years at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church.
V. Gayle was preceded in death by her Ralph, who waited patiently for her because he knew that she needed to be here so that Corey could know his great grandma; and also preceded in death by a son, Robert Gillispie; a sister, Connie Mason Carney; and brothers, Gary Mason and Jay Mason; and brothers-in-law, David Gillispie, Dick Carney and Donnie Gillispie.
Survivors include her daughter, Julie Ann Rash; granddaughter, Miranda Jade VanStratten and her husband, Bryan; great-grandson, Corey Landon VanStratten; sister, Roxann Mason Carver; and brother-in-law, Russell Gillispie. She was also an aunt, great-aunt and great-great-aunt to numerous nieces and nephews.
