Llewellyn Winfield (Bub) Gilliland Jr., 83 of Hixson, died Thursday, June 5, 2025, at Erlanger Baroness Hospital after a short illness. He died on what would have been his 60th wedding anniversary. Marriage doesn’t require perfection, but it does demand the type of love and loyalty he and wife Linda Jo King Gilliland modeled for than more 56 years before her death in 2022.
Bub lived a taxing life, but not in the way you probably imagined reading the first part of this sentence. A career accountant, he owned his own bookkeeping and tax service and was a specialist in operations management and accounting for small business. Bub was a people person by nature, and “tax season,” January-April, was his chance to meet his public: the clients he cherished and enjoyed serving.
Bub liked reading; coin collecting; traveling; old movies; doing his part to take care of the family Yorkies; decorating the house for the holidays, especially Christmas; and cooking. Had he come of age in a different era, he might have been a chef.
He enjoyed an “interesting” array of TV channels and programs: HGTV, “Antiques Roadshow,” “To Catch a Smuggler” and nearly anything about nearly anything ancient. It was the type of lineup that, quite frankly, would leave you ready to cry “mercy” after an hour in return for being allowed to escape. But even in those quirky selections, Bub displayed a lifelong love of history and learning.
His style of clothing was never boring, from his pink coat worn to his granddaughter's wedding, to a lavender outfit for a picture with his beloved wife and yorkie; his clothing choices were carefully curated to be expressive and colorful. He loved talking about where his clothes came from.
Bub was born September 12, 1941, in Chattanooga, grew up in Brainerd and was a graduate of The Webb School of Bell Buckle, Tennessee, and the University of Chattanooga. He has been a member of Red Bank United Methodist Church since 1965.
He enjoyed Braves baseball and college football but was no better than the third biggest sports fan in the family behind his wife and oldest son. Bub and Linda were quite the pair. During college football season, he would surrender control of the TV remote to her — probably as a survival tactic — in return for being allowed to make the TV picks the rest of the year.
In addition to Linda, Bub was preceded in death by his parents, L.W. (Spooks) Gilliland Sr. and Martha Carolyn Brockett Gilliland; a brother, David Michael Gilliland; a brother-in-law, W. Dan King; and his beloved Yorkies, Rascal and Buddy.
He is survived by his children, Lew W. Gilliland III, of Chattanooga; Wendy Lynn Gilliland Novak (Steve) of Eldersburg, Maryland; and Timothy (Tim) Fielding Gilliland (Lauren) of Dayton, Ohio; grandchildren, Madeline Serio Brunner (Paul), Nathan Serio and Oliver Novak of Maryland and Ava Gilliland and Charles Gilliland of Ohio; and sisters Patricia G. Smith of Chattanooga and Susan G. Goyer (Michael) of Brentwood, Tennessee.
A visitation for Bub was held Sunday, June 15, 2025 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm at Chattanooga Funeral Home, North Chapel, 5401 Highway 153 Hixson, TN 37343. A memorial service followed the visitation starting at 7:00 pm with Rev. Dr. Brian Burch officiating.
The family requests in lieu of flowers, please make donations in Bub’s name to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, the Hamilton County Humane Society or Red Bank United Methodist Church, 3800 Dayton Blvd., Chattanooga, TN, 37415
Arrangements were by the North Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory and Florist, 5401 Highway 153 Hixson, TN 37343. Please share your thoughts and memories at www.chattanooganorthchapel.com
