The headline in the September 4, 1942 issue of the Winston-Salem Journal was enticing: “Twin City Man Rooms With Gable.”
W. T. Gilliam wrote to his brother, Henry Gilliam, that he was rooming with Clark Gable. Gilliam was in military service in Miami Beach, “stationed in a luxurious hotel,” and his roommate was Clark Gable. He wrote that Gable “is a prince of a good fellow.”
We all know who Clark Gable was, but who was W. T. Gilliam and what is his story?
William Tyree Gilliam was born in Guilford County in 1917. He grew up in Kernersville and graduated from Sedge Garden High School and Guilford College.
After college he taught school at Oak Ridge and Riverdale Country School in New York.
His draft registration card in 1940 describes him as having hazel eyes, blonde hair, and a light complexion. He lived on East Sprague Street with his brother, Henry David Gilliam. Both of his parent had passed away by 1940.
He enlisted in the Armed Services in 1942 and served in the Army Air Corps until 1946.
He married Julia Jenkins Smith in 1945. After the war, he and Julia lived in Winston-Salem. He spent most of his working years employed by Compton’s Encyclopedia (Britannica later bought Comption’s). He worked as a state manager in Alabama, a district manager in Minneapolis, and as a zone manager in Houston.
He and Julia returned to Kernersville in 1976.
Tyree used his sales skills when he volunteered for the Friends of the Library in Kernersville. The Kernersville Friends were a very active group that held a large annual meeting, usually with a well-known speaker. Tyree is shown in the above photo at the right.
Tyree passed away in 2008. There was no mention of his encounter with Clark Gable in his obituary, and we don’t know if they kept in touch over the years.
But I’m sure that William Tyree Gilliam had many good stories that came in handy during his sales career. And his Gable story was most likely related many times.
Photographs courtesy of Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection.
