Meet Harry Gilleland: Part Two

Well now we get to the nitty gritty and find out about Harry Gilleland, where he's from, what makes him tick as a writer.

Please tell us all about yourself, Harry.

I was born a poor white child to a blue-collar family. My father worked as a railroad car repair worker, which involved riveting, soldering, hammering, etc inside wrecked railroad cars to return them to service.

Where was this, Harry?

This was in Macon, Georgia. In the summer when the outside temperature was nearly 100 degrees, inside a boxcar was suffocating. Pop would come home after work with salt from sweat encrusted on his work shirt. He always told me, “Son, when you grow up, work with your head and not your hands.” I took this advice to heart.

What type of student were you?

I was a straight A student throughout my schooling, which was easy enough for me what with my natural intellect. In high school I was a certified nerd … chess club, honor group, the works. I hung out with the other nerds. (Aside: We nerds always wondered why all the girls went after the jocks and not us nerds. Didn’t they realize that we would become the doctors, lawyers, professors, the ‘Bill Gates’, and be a good provider? That football quarterback with the C- average they were drooling over ended up a used car salesman.) I earned a freshman scholarship and went off to the University of Georgia in Athens.

My senior year of high school, I had managed to secure a girlfriend. Midway through my sophomore year at UGa, I married her. She was 18; I was 19. It seemed like a good idea at the time. (Teenage sex hormones!) I guess I thought we could grow up together. The marriage lasted 18 years, and we produced three great children together. During these years, I earned a B.S. and a M.S. in Microbiology, and began working on a Ph.D. Then, (drum roll please), who came knocking but my draft board. Seems they were scrapping the bottom of the barrel (actually what they told me) in getting enough bodies to send to fight in Vietnam and they really needed me to drop out of my Ph.D. studies to join the Army. It felt satisfying being labeled “bottom of the barrel”, I can tell you.

I spent the next three years of my life serving in the Army. I went through enlisted basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri in late December until the end of February. It was my first experience with ice and snow. We marched in it; we slept in it; we fired rifles in it. The Army gave me a test to see what my best military specialty would be. Guess what! Turns out with all my education I was best suited to be a rifleman and fight as an infantryman. Thank goodness I had applied for a direct commission as a laboratory officer and my appointment as a captain came through the last day of enlisted basic. I went from being an E-0 to a 0-3…and did my life ever get better! I learned a lot from the Army and feel I matured greatly during those three years. For two years I was Chief over the Microbiology section of the medical laboratory at William Beaumont General Hospital in El Paso, Texas. I learned a lot of hands-on clinical microbiology to supplement my book learning, plus I learned a lot about leadership. Then I got a chance to travel and see part of Asia. Vietnam was a nice place to visit, except that the VC wanted us dead. I finished my Army service and returned straight from Vietnam back to UGA and resumed my Ph.D. studies.

Can you tell us a bit about your brief stay in Canada?

I earned my Ph.D. in Microbiology in 1973 and immediately headed off to London….Canada, that is. I spent two years on a fellowship at The University of Western Ontario. In Canada, I learned many Canadians didn’t approve of Americans and hated Kraft cheese for some reason. I also learned what winter from October to June was like. The day I arrived at work frozen and found out the temperature outside was –10, with a windchill factor of –35, I knew I was finding a job in the South!

-35 is just about right, Harry. Although lately we've had -40plus with the chill factor. So, did you find a job down South eventually?

Sure enough I joined the faculty of LSU Medical School in Shreveport, La in 1975. I remained on the faculty until I retired in 2004. During these years, I lectured to medical students and graduate students and did scientific research. My project was investigating the use of a purified outer member protein F of Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a vaccine candidate to prevent pulmonary infections, primarily in children with CF. I enjoyed publishing our results and presenting our data at meetings and conferences in the U.S. and in Europe. This work allowed my second wife and me to see Munich, Paris, London, Florence, Rome, plus take train rides across Bavaria and France, as well as through Austria and Tuscany. Being a professor at a medical school is heady stuff…

I divorced wife #1 in 1982; then married my second wife, Linda, in 1985. We belong together…true soul mates. Linda and I are now both happily retired and living the good life. In 2001 I started writing poetry. Now I am a self-published author of three poetry books and two works of prose. Life is good! I hope to continue as a writer until the day I die.

I am grandfather to five grandchildren, aged 10 to 7. One’s immortality lies in one’s descendents for generations to come.

You said that you were not attractive to the girls in high school. When did you become so fabulously desirable to members of the opposite sex, i.e. women?

Strangely enough, the women paid me no mind while I was a professor and a scientist, but when I became a poet, they became totally fascinated with me. They pursued me relentlessly, much to my wife Linda’s chagrin. I finally had to gain a lot of weight and go bald headed so that I could disappear among the legion of fat, old, bald men to escape. Just one of the few drawbacks to being a writer and an author, I guess.

You are known primarily as a poet. Do you plan to write more prose novels?

Yes, hopefully so. I enjoy the difference between writing poetry and writing prose.

My wife Linda loves Bob the Dragon Slayer and wants me to write more prose. Like any smart husband, I try to keep the wife happy.

What a smart man you are, Harry. Keeping the wife happy means a continuous stream of dinners for you.

I want to thank you for taking time today and allowing our readers to meet you on a more personal level.

If you missed Part One where Harry talks about his YA book, Bob the Dragon Slayer, click here to read the post. Harry, I want to wish you continued success in your writing career and please keep us posted with any new publications.