{"id":155629,"date":"2026-02-19T11:23:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T17:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=155629"},"modified":"2026-02-19T12:05:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T18:05:34","slug":"obituary-gara-gillentine-november-7-1947-february-15-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/obituary-gara-gillentine-november-7-1947-february-15-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Obituary: Gara Gillentine (November 7, 1947 ~ February 15, 2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gara Ruth Gillentine<\/strong>, 78, of Tupelo<\/strong>, passed away peacefully on February 15, 2026, at North Mississippi Medical Center Hospice<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born on November 7, 1947, in Mississippi to the late Otis<\/strong> and Nell Homer<\/strong>, Gara lived a life rooted in creativity, curiosity, and deep appreciation for the beauty around her. She earned her bachelor\u2019s degree and went on to work as a talented floral designer, a profession that perfectly reflected her artistic spirit and lifelong love of flowers. Her arrangements were more than creations\u2014they were expressions of her gentle heart and eye for detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gara was a gifted artist who found joy in painting and ceramics. She had a special love for nature, music, and all things beautiful. A self-proclaimed weather enthusiast, she followed forecasts and changing skies with fascination. Whether tending to flowers, listening to her favorite songs, or admiring the outdoors, Gara found wonder in the simple blessings of everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gara was a frequent contributor to The Local Voice<\/em> media company in Oxford <\/strong>over the last twenty years. Her articles, photographs and poems graced the pages of the newspaper many times. She was one of the first distributors of the newspaper, and in 2008, Gara custom painted one of the first The Local Voice<\/em> newspaper bins, which was a tribute to the victims of Hurricane Katrina<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is survived by her daughter, Ramona Scott<\/strong>; her sons, Michael Gillentine<\/strong> and Matthew Gillentine<\/strong>; and her brother, David Homer<\/strong> (Jan<\/strong>). She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Jerry Homer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No public services are planned at this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Artist<\/a>
Artist Gara Gillentine of Oxford, Mississippi with her custom painted newspaper bin for The Local Voice media company, April 17, 2008. Photograph by Newt Rayburn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Gara<\/a>
Gara Gillentine (November 7, 1947 ~ February 15, 2026)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Gara<\/a>
Gara Gillentine (November 7, 1947 ~ February 15, 2026)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gara Ruth Gillentine, 78, of Tupelo, passed away peacefully on February 15, 2026, at North Mississippi Medical Center<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":155711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1209],"tags":[33702,33693,33703,33701,33700,33699,1560,33698,33697],"class_list":["post-155629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obituaries","tag-david-homer","tag-gara-gillentine","tag-jerry-homer","tag-matt-gillentine","tag-matthew-gillentine","tag-michael-gillentine","tag-obituary","tag-ramona-gillentine","tag-ramona-scott"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2021-02-22-GaraGillentine-RGB.jpg?fit=1242%2C1188&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155629"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155714,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155629\/revisions\/155714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}