Gilmore Not Actually Related to Gilmore

Aviation royalty at rest.

It has been a long and trying road to discovery but in the end it was worth knowing the truth.  As many of you know our cat, which Ginger carried to the house a few years back, is named Gilmore.  Found on the runway wet and alone and about 4 weeks old, the prospects of him living were grim.  Yet Ginger worked her typical magic and actually learned how to do the things a mother cat would do to make him live.

By this photo he had more than doubled in size.

In the beginning, he was “just this big”.  If you hold your hands tightly together like you are trying to hold water or a bird in your hands, that’s how big he was.  He was tiny.  He also came with a giant name; Gilmore.  He got this name because we were sure he was the 82^nd descendant of Roscoe Turner’s famous lion, Gilmore (or The Mayflower Cat depending on who you talk to).  Anyway, the name brought him great attention and fame and he was even offered an all expense paid trip around the world in the name of airport cats everywhere.  This made us very proud.

Now though, mere days after securing the funding for his journey, we have found out Gilmore is not actually related to the Gilmore of aviation fame.  Instead he only bears the name of Roscoe Turner’s famous cat.  That said, Gilmore wants cats around the world know he will carry on in his goal to promote cats at airports and he even stopped briefly to talk to reporters about it.  “It is my hope that although airports have long been the domain of dogs, my journey will spread the message to little kittens around the planet that they can do anything they set their hearts to.  The fact I am handsome and a cat had no bearing on my ability to make this journey and it shouldn’t keep you from making yours”.

There you have it folks.  He may not be a true relative to the original Gilmore but he certainly has the ability to put on a show and leverage his abilities in ways not seen since Roscoe and Gilmore first took to the sky.  Hmmm, maybe there is a connection?