Janelle Gray

Janelle Gray of Sheridan, 65, died in her home on June 24, 2023, surrounded by her loving family.

Janelle was born to Allwyn and Larry Gray and raised in Wyoming. She was the oldest of three children, and she learned quickly how to boss people around, a skill she would use throughout her lifetime.

From childhood, she loved nature, hiking, skiing, and the Bighorn Mountains. She met her husband of forty-one years, Phillip Gilmore while working at the Hunter Ranger Station outside of Buffalo. After the couple lived in Wenatchee, Washington for ten years as young adults, they found a permanent home in Sheridan with their three children, Brenna, Ben, and Maya.

Janelle had an incisive knowledge of who she was and what she wanted, and the drive to pursue it. She graduated summa cum laude from Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota with a Bachelor’s in biology, a degree she would later use when she bought Landon’s Greenhouse.

As the co-owner of Landon’s Greenhouse for 23 years, she worked long hours to make the business a thriving success. After her retirement, she started another business, running a farmer’s market stand in the farmer’s market that she instigated. She never let herself be stopped by the breast cancer she fought for the last twenty-five years of her life; instead, her cancer inspired her to travel across the world, plan trips with her kids and grandkids, and go camping every summer. She visited her foster kid in Sweden twice, hiked Hadrian’s Wall, and stayed in Guatemala and Peru while adopting her children Ben and Brenna. Her vision, passion, and sheer determination shaped her work, her life, and the lives of those around her.

One need not set foot in her house to see the beauty Janelle created everywhere she went. She built, planned, and planted many gardens throughout her life, and created three large beds in the spring of 2023. She could often be found playing piano at home or at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Sheridan; as early as high school, she was a piano accompaniment for school musicals. She was deeply creative and worked hard to maintain her talents.

She also took on many roles on the board of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Sheridan across the years, and earlier, at the Powder River Basin Resource Counsel. She was appreciated for her keen intelligence, her deft writing, and her dry humor.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Larry and Allwyn Gray. She is survived by her husband Phillip, her children Brenna Montagne (Danny), Benjamin Gilmore, and Maya Gilmore, and her grandchildren Madix, Eliana, and Malakai Montagne, as well as siblings Wayne (Margi), Zach (Tanya), and Susan Gray, their children, and many beloved friends.

As her grandchild Eliana once advised, Janelle was truly “alive for her life”. She didn’t waste a minute.

A Celebration of Life is at 2:30 P.M., Saturday, July 29, at Kearney Hall.  Please join us for a potluck and music.

More details will be announced soon. Online condolences may be made to www.sheridanfuneral.com. Arrangements are under the care of Sheridan Funeral Home.