Gilroy’s gangly former mayor with a broad smile, firm handshake and deep voice – a descendant of the city’s founding father and a much-decorated American war hero – died Wednesday morning at his home in Texas with his wife Patricia by his side. Kevin A. “Mike” Gilroy was 77.
After an illustrious career in the U.S. Air Force, retired Col. Mike Gilroy returned to serve the community named for his great-great grandfather. His military honors included the Air Force Cross medal, recognizing him for extraordinary heroism. It is the second highest honor that can be bestowed upon a member of the Air Force.
Gilroy served two terms as the city’s mayor, beginning in 1997, and spent six years on the City Council prior to his election to the city’s highest governmental seat.
In a short autobiography, he wrote, “I had a blast as an elected official and received great cooperation from the other council members, the city staff and the citizens. We put a virtual stop to graffiti, drove our gang members out of town, and instituted a killer economic development program. That small, 40,000-person town had over a billion dollars of taxable sales last year. That pays for a lot of police and fire protection.”
His list of accomplishments as a city leader included helping charter the Gilroy Downtown Development Corporation and driving numerous anti-gang efforts, both punitive and preventive. He championed an effective multi-agency campaign spearheaded by the Gilroy Police Department dubbed “The Lucky 7.” The goal: target the top criminals paroled back to Gilroy and prevent ongoing criminal behavior. Gilroy, in tandem with Mayor Don Gage, also started the annual Tee off for Youth Golf Tournament which funded activities for youth through the citywide Gang Task Force and gave an annual budget shot in the arm to the former Gilroy Youth Center at Sixth and Railroad streets.
He was a catalyst in starting the city’s annual Memorial Day Parade and activities, a homespun tradition that continues to be very popular with residents to this day.
Out of the limelight, he read with children at Jordan School and volunteered for eight years at St. Joseph’s Family Center, driving the truck to San Jose weekly to pick up food supplies for the needy.
“Mike was a fine example and a credit to the founder of our city. He took care of his family and worked hard. He had the ability to zero in on a problem, reduce it to its smallest elements and solve it,” said Bob Dillon, a former Councilman and close friend.
“He was a buddy and a good one. If you needed something from Mike you could get it. When you have a friend like Mike, it elevates you and it makes you feel the same way towards him,” Dillon said.
Gilroy was the great-great grandson of John Cameron, for whom the Garlic Capital of the world is named.
Cameron took his mother’s maiden name, Gilroy, after a series of events. He arrived on the coast of California when his ship, the Isaac Todd, dropped him off in Monterey in 1813 to recover from a life-threatening bout with scurvy. His ship never came back. Eventually he married 13-year-old Maria Clara Ortega – the daughter of the owner of a large rancho – and started a new life.
Gilroy always thought his ties to the town were more about people than history.
“All that stuff certainly is fascinating, but it doesn’t make me better than anybody else,” Gilroy said with a laugh in an interview with a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer in 1997. “On the other hand, it does make for interesting cocktail party conversation.”
As a city leader, his style initially caught some off-guard.
“I thought his leadership style going in would be really authoritative coming from the military but it really wasn’t,” recalled retired City Administrator Jay Baksa who worked with Gilroy throughout his political tenure. “He really made sure he got people’s input. He could build consensus and that is not always a skill that politicians have.”
Mayor Don Gage appreciated that skill. Gage was mayor then – in 1991 – as he is now, returning to office in Gilroy after spending years on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.
“He did a great job when he first came on. He learned very quickly. We were pretty good friends and both of us spoke our piece. He was not afraid to tell it like it was and he was polished when he did it,” Gage recalled. “He said to me when he first came on, ‘as long as you’re doing a good job, I won’t run for mayor.‘ So I guess I met his approval.”
Gage remembered Gilroy giving him a hard time about “buying American.” When Gage pointed out that Gilroy drove a BMW, the car soon vanished and Gilroy purchased an American vehicle.
“His wife Pat was a peach,” Gage said, “She supported Mike 100 percent – and he loved his grandkids. They were respectful, good kids.”
Gilroy and his wife played significant roles in the lives of twin grandsons, Chris and Tim Henderson. They are the sons of Gilroy’s daughter, Denise, who tragically passed away in a motorcyle accident on a Texas highway in 2011 at the age of 48. Both Chris and Tim served the country in the military, Tim in the Air Force and Chris in the Marines.
After military service, Chris and his wife, Kristen, came back to Gilroy where they live now.
“Grandpa always pushed us to look at the bigger picture,” Chris Henderson said. “He inspired us to help others and that’s the reason we both joined the service – it’s not just us, it’s greater than us. That’s what he taught us.”
Henderson recalled one duty that he and his brother still chuckle about. Gilroy “enlisted” his grandsons in a volunteer effort to paint the city’s gutters with the “No dumping, leads to the ocean” signs. “We’d hop in and out of the car and paint the signs,” Henderson said. “He wanted to show us that things weren’t always fun or exciting, but that they needed to get done.”
On Thanksgiving, Henderson recalled, they would take time to volunteer at the Lord’s Table, “and help feed those less fortunate.”
Gilroy was one of the most highly decorated Electronic Warfare Officers in the U.S. Air Force. In 1966, he volunteered for a new Air Force program dubbed the Wild Weasels who were tasked with preceding the strike force of F-105D’s in the Vietnam War and protecting them from surface-to-air missiles. In the first 45 days, four of the 16-member team had been killed, two were taken as prisoners of war and three had been seriously wounded.
Gilroy’s plane was shot down over Hanoi in 1966, but he parachuted into the Gulf of Tonkin and was rescued an hour and a half later.
Replacement airplanes followed – the Weasels were down to one after 45 days – and the crews in early September had much more success.
“By that time, we had figured out how to kill the SAM (surface to air missle) sites, without them killing us,” wrote Gilroy. “The missions were dangerous, exciting, and very professionally and personally rewarding. We felt and flew like we were bulletproof. I guess that’s why we have young people fight our wars – they don’t know any better.”
After his military and civic careers ended, he and Pat retired to the south. They visited Gilroy regularly and were on hand when a bronze sculpture was unveiled downtown commemorating John Cameron Gilroy on Oct. 17, 2009.
A formal obituary will follow in next week’s newspaper. Military services will be conducted in San Antonio, TX. Following that, his body will be flown to Gilroy for services at St. Mary’s Catholic Church and burial here. Donations can be made to the Mike Gilroy Memorial Scholarship Fund by sending a check to Gilroy Foundation/Mike Gilroy Fund, P.O. Box 774, Gilroy, CA 95021.
