At 14, Earl Gilstrap dropped out of school to take his first two jobs: working at a soda fountain in the morning and delivering bottles of Coca-Cola and milk from his bike in the afternoons. That became a pathway to a career.
He went on to work at a series of grocery stores until he opened up his own — Gilstrap’s Food Store — in 1976.
It seemed a natural calling. Lucille Gilstrap said her husband “seemed to know everybody” that came through the doors of his establishments.
“He was a good businessman. He was people-oriented,” she said.
Later in life, Gilstrap, who lived in Cumming, worked as a greeter for several years, because, his daughter Connie Wilbanks of Clarkesville, explained, “He just knew so many people. He was well-liked, well-respected and well-known.”
“He was a good conversationalist,” said his wife of 34 years. “He wasn’t a boring man. People really enjoyed him and he had this wonderful memory. He always had a story and people would listen because he was an interesting storyteller.”
Earl Gilstrap, 89, died on Friday of complications from hepatitis. A funeral service will be held on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. at the Chapel of McDonald and Son Funeral Home. The interment will be held at Sawnee View Gardens.
“He was always helping people out. He would help people who had nothing,” said his wife.
A devout Christian involved in the Gideons, Gilstrap was active in the prison ministry and would travel to nursing homes and hospitals. He was also involved in the campaign to keep the Ten Commandments in the Georgia courthouse.
An avid traveler, Gilstrap participated in many mission trips across the United States and internationally, visiting Jamaica, Haiti, Nicaragua and Honduras. With his wife, he traveled to 48 states.
“The two we didn’t make it to were Minnesota and North Dakota,” she said. “We loved to travel. He used to say that our Winnebago purred just like a kitten when it was going down the road.”
In his spare time, Gilstrap would tend to his garden.
“Even at his age, he was mowing his own lawn,” said his daughter.
In addition to his wife and daughter, Gilstrap is survived by son Ben Gilstrap of Gainesville; daughter Shirley Varnado of Duluth; daughter Mary Fouts of Ball Ground; sisters Sylvia Cooper and Nell Norris, both of Gainesville; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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