Roy Rolfe Gilson

Born in Clinton, Iowa, on August 12, 1875, Roy Rolfe Gilson built an unusually varied career. Records about him describe work on the staffs of the Grand Rapids Herald, the Detroit Tribune and News, and the New York Commercial Advertiser, showing how closely his writing life was tied to journalism before and alongside his literary work.

Gilson published novels and short fiction, including In the Morning Glow, Miss Primrose, and The Wistful Years. Even from the titles alone, his work suggests a taste for tender, nostalgic storytelling, and he is remembered as both a novelist and a writer of short stories.

Later in life he entered the Episcopal ministry and was ordained a deacon in 1913. He died on August 2, 1933, in Salisbury, Maryland, where he was serving as rector of St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church, leaving behind the distinctive legacy of a journalist, clergyman, and author.