Identical twins mark their 100th birthday

On Thursday, Dec. 11,1919, Francis and Ann Gilles welcomed twin boys into the world. This week the boys turn 100.

Identical twins Merne and Mark Gilles were raised on a dairy and crop farm outside Lena and spent their youth milking cows, working in the fields and finding a little time for high school sports.

The second and third of 10 children, the twins initially had two brothers, John and Francis, and two sisters, Mary Ellen and Agnes. Their mother, Ann Maloney Gilles, passed when the twins were 11. Their father, Francis, remarried Susan Lisowe and had four more boys – Joe, Bob, Dick and Leo – to complete the family.

Jean Osen said her father, Merne Gilles, would say the secret to their longevity is working and keeping busy. Just a few weeks ago and with a little help, he climbed up into the combine one more time and did a few laps in the corn field. Osen, her cousins, uncles and siblings got together to produce a short biography of the century-old twins:

After graduating high school in 1937 and passage of the Rural Electrification Act, Merne, the “elder” twin, worked on wiring Oconto County farms for the first time. It is difficult to imagine now, but at the time, some people wondered, “What will farmers do with electricity?”

Merne took over the family dairy and grain farm in 1948, eventually totaling over 750 acres. He was an active leader in many civic organizations, serving as a Midwest Breeders director and on its executive board; the president, vice president, treasurer and membership chairman of the Civic Club & Lyons Club; and the chairman of the board for the Federal Land Bank of Green Bay for many years. He was active in the Democratic Party and the St. Charles and Holy Cross Community Church. Merne is an advocate for progressive farming, especially soil conservation, and traveled to China as part of the People to People program.

Merne’s wife Claire passed in 1993 and his second wife, Betty, passed in 1998. He still lives in his Lena home with some assistance from family.

Merne said he is very proud to have spent his life as a farmer “feeding the people.” Family members gathered in Lena Saturday to celebrate the centenarian.

Mark left the family farm in November 1941 to join the military, followed by his brothers John and Francis. Merne, ineligible for military service due to a poorly set arm fracture as a child, stayed on the farm to help his father.

Pursuing his childhood dream to fly, Mark became an officer and pilot in the Army Air Corps and went on to pilot 32 B-17 bombing missions over Germany and other parts of Nazi held Europe. He flew two tactical missions on D-Day in support of the allied invasion operations. He flew his bombing missions out of England as a member of the “The Mighty Eighth” Air Force, the 95th Bomb Wing, and its 412th Bombardment Squadron.

After the war Mark continued his career in the Army Air Corps, soon to become the U.S. Air Force. He flew over 5,000 hours covering over a million miles. He and his family moved 14 times to Air Force bases in the Pacific and across the U.S.

His Air Force career included three bomber squadron commander assignments, spanning the perilous Cuban Missile Crisis, when his nuclear-armed bombers were on highest alert. In addition to the B-17, Mark flew the B-29, the B-50 and finished his Air Force career as a B-47 jet pilot and squadron commander at Pease Air Force Base in New Hampshire.

Upon retirement from the Air Force, Mark became a regional manager of United Services Life Insurance Company serving military officers and their dependents. Upon his retirement in 1986 he moved to Sanford, North Carolina, where he lives independently with his wife, June.

Mark and June celebrated 75 years of marriage on Oct. 21 with 28 family members from around the country in attendance. He has been active in the Order of Daedalians, a military pilots’ fraternal organization, and St. Stephens Catholic Church.

Merne has seven children and Mark had five children. All told they have 14 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

The twins lived very different lives; however, they said growing up on a northern Wisconsin dairy farm instilled in them a strong work ethic and steadfast values that carried them through life. Both derive great joy in reading and sharing their stories and their hard-earned wisdom.