Edward Victor Gillis was born Edvardus Bartholomeus Vikoras Gylys in Lithuanian Town, Grand Rapids, Michigan March 1, 1920. His father, Bartholomeus emigrated to Grand Rapids in 1904 to avoid conscription into the Russian Cossack Army. His mother, Katherine Staseunaitis, arrived in Grand Rapids in 1908, and wed Bartholomeus in 1911, at SS. Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Church.

Mr. Gillis was a lifelong resident of Grand Rapids, where he and his wife of 61 years, Evelyn, raised their three children: Catherine, Victor and Lynette. He enjoyed a long and successful career in the tool and die and precision manufacturing industry, holding various supervisory and managerial positions for 45 years. During World War II, he served as a professional diver with the U.S. Army Amphibious Engineer Corps.

Edward Gillis had deep interests in archaeology, anthropology, history and geology. He was president of the 700-member Michigan Archaeology Society and held all offices of the Society’s Coffinberry Chapter. He was also a scholar of Native American Indian culture and was a co-founder of the Grand Valley American Indian Lodge. For many years, Edward delighted school children with his talks on Native American culture. Following a lecture he gave at Hope College in 1991, several Native Americans in the audience accused him of over stepping his authority to speak for them and he later agreed to leave the Grand Valley American Indian Lodge.

Following this incident, Mr. Gillis turned his full energies to recording the history of his own people, those of his Lithuanian community. He died of cancer August 14, 1999, at age 79; just as his book was nearing publication.

Mr. Gillis completed his manuscript in May 1977, following almost six years of work. He made a proposal to the Lithuanian Research and Studies Center in Chicago, IL to publish his work. The Center responded with the requirement of a large cash advance that was not feasible. Mr. Gillis approached Gordon Olson, then City Historian of Grand Rapids, Michigan, for suggestions. Mr. Olson took the project to the Grand Rapids Historical Commission and the Commission agreed to the undertaking. There have been two printings of the book to date, 1,028 in the first and 518 in the second.