Rosemont science teacher dies

Gary Moskowitz

Rosemont Middle School teacher Carole Gilmer, known for her

enthusiastic approach to teaching students about science and

technology, died Jan. 3 after a long bout with cancer. She was 56.

Gilmer joined the Glendale Unified School District in 1990 and

taught eighth-grade science, math and adolescent skills classes at

Rosemont for the duration of her service.

She took a health leave in May 2001, and returned to school for a

short period during the 2002-03 school year, officials said. Gilmer

did not teach this school year.

Michael Blume, a 2003 Crescenta Valley High School graduate, had

Gilmer as a teacher when he was a student at Rosemont. Blume

remembered Gilmer as a teacher who made learning about science “fun

and interesting.”

“Gosh, she was always trying new things, random things,” Blume

said Friday. “She was always saying, ‘Let’s try this,’ and we would.

It was fun. She always took an interest in students. I didn’t know

this at the time, but she would call my folks to see how I was

doing.”

Gilmer was born July 30, 1947, in Boston. A memorial service for

Gilmer is at 11 a.m. today at Foothills Community Church, 2540 E.

Orange Ave. in Pasadena. The service is open to the public.

Gilmer has been cremated and requested that her ashes be spread

into the Pacific Ocean after the winter storms are over, said

Christine Collins-Cross, a Rosemont teacher and friend of Gilmer’s.

“She was the consummate, absolute outstanding teacher,”

Collins-Cross said. “It would start raining outside, the snails would

come out into the yard, and she would take her kids outside to see

what snails were doing. She was very positive and upbeat.”

Gilmer organized the school’s first “cyber crew,” a group of

students who helped maintain computer systems at the school.

Gilmer had a program set up in her class through the University of

Arizona that connected students to satellite feeds, Collins-Cross

said.

The school will create an outstanding science student of the year

award in Gilmer’s name, and school officials decided to plant a tree

on campus this school year in her honor, Collins-Cross said.

Gilmer is survived by her brother, Joel Vasile; her sister, Diane

Flock; her son, Zachary Gilmer; two nieces; one nephew; and a

grandnephew.

“She had a personality larger than life,” said Joel Vasile,

Gilmer’s brother. “She was always cheerful, always talking to

people.”