William "Bill" Burt Gaillard

William “Bill” Burt Gaillard, age 90, passed away in Melbourne, Florida, on Sunday, November 30, 2025.

Bill was born on May 26, 1935 to Ann Hartley Atkinson and Burt Champenoise Gaillard in Panama City, FL. The family moved to Port St. Joe, FL shortly after his birth, where Burt was employed by the St. Joe Paper Company. William spent his early years fishing, hunting and diving in St. Joseph Bay for old “St. Jo” artifacts. He grew up with stories of panthers roaming the pine woods and stalking school children as they traveled between home and school. Bill was active in school, playing football and basketball and in his senior year was elected Captain of the Shark’s football team. In 1952 he married his high school sweetheart, Carlene Campbell.

William was accepted into the University of Florida School of Engineering in 1954 and in 1959 earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. He went on to build a long and distinguished career in computer engineering. He was first employed with Radiation in Orlando/Melbourne working on telemetry projects for government entities and telecommunication companies.

In 1962 he accepted a position with Systems Engineering Laboratories in Plantation FL. He was responsible for the designing of a low level high speed telemetry system for NASA\Langley, and a countdown, firing and data acquisition system for Thiokol to test their 5 million pound thrust propellant engine.

In 1975 he returned to Harris Corporation, Composition Division in to Melbourne FL He was the design engineer on Copynet, a project to computerize the Baltimore Sun newspaper. 

Billy and Carlene traveled extensively, camping throughout North America and making cherished trips to Alaska, Canada, and Europe. They especially treasured spending their summers in Colorado.

Bill was predeceased by his parents, B.C. Gaillard and Ann Gaillard.  A family memorial was held in Melbourne. 

He will be lovingly remembered by his wife of 73 years, Carlene Campbell Gaillard; their daughter, Ann Campbell Shiller; their son, William Alexander Gaillard; and his brother, Alexander Gaillard. He is also survived by five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. 

A graveside service will be held at Holly Hill Cemetery, in Port St. Joe, Florida on  Saturday, April 11, 2026 at 3:00 PM Eastern Time. 

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Nature Conservancy in memory of William Gaillard. https://preserve.nature.org/page/177671/donate

Local arrangements are entrusted to the caring staff of Comforter Funeral Home in Port St. Joe, Florida.