Gladys "Killem Gillem" Wall, 89; Woman's Wrestling Pioneer
Bill Schenley
Women's wrestling pioneer remembered for her love of life
FROM: The Pensacola News-Journal ~
By Sean Dugas
Her life history reads like an adventure novel.
Lion tamer. Alligator wrestler. Circus performer.
Pioneer of women's wrestling.
Through all the excitement and the bumps and bruises,
Gladys "Killem Gillem" Wall remained dedicated to her
family, raising three children after her husband's death.
Wall died Wednesday, Aug. 12 at Baptist Hospital at
the age of 89. Those who knew her best remember her
as a fearless woman driven by a passion to be in the
spotlight and a love of life.
"My dad called her 'Will' because of her strong will.
Nothing every really scared her," said Kathleen
Ferguson, 60, the oldest of Wall's children. "She was
a tomboy from day one. My mother taught me how to
throw a football and baseball."
Wall left home at 19 to join the circus and soon
discovered she loved to be the center of attention.
She began her career as a professional wrestler in
carnival sideshows in the early 1940s.
Wall wrestled as a "heel," or villain, named "Killem
Gillem." She was featured in the 2005 documentary
"Lipstick and Dynamite, Piss and Vinegar: The First
Ladies of Wrestling," a film about the early days of
women's wrestling.
Christina Renee Bellsnyder, 40, one of Wall's
granddaughters, called "Killem Gillem" a legend. Some
of Bellsnyder's fondest memories were traveling with
Wall to meet the Cauliflower Alley Club, a national
organization of wrestlers to which Wall belonged.
"She loved the spotlight; she lived for that," Bellsnyder
said. "She was an entertainer to the end. Even in the
nursing home, she was always telling stories."
Wall is survived by three children, Kathleen Ferguson,
60, Claire McCoy, 59, and John Wall, 54; six
grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
One of Wall's grandchildren - Shawn McCoy, 36,
began a rock band named "Killem' Gillem" in Wall's
honor. When Shawn was 3, Wall saved his life after he
started a fire inside her home.
"I crawled under the bed with grandma's pets," Shawn
McCoy recalled of the incident. "(Wall) pulled the air
conditioner out of the window and crawled inside.
Then she threw me out that window.
I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her."
Services for Wall are scheduled for noon on Wednesday
at Gadsden Street United Methodist Church. She will be
buried at Barrancas National Cemetery following the
service, the family said.