Roxane Gatling Gilmore

Roxane Gatling Gilmore (June 17, 1954 – August 7, 2024) was an American educator, professor and academic. She served as First Lady of Virginia from 1998 to 2002 as the wife of Governor Jim Gilmore and oversaw the restoration of Virginia Governor's Mansion, the longest continually occupied governor’s residence in the United States. While holding the role of first lady, Gilmore continued her work as a classics professor at Randolph–Macon College, becoming the first First Lady in Virginia's history to actively maintain her own independent, professional career during her tenure. There, she joined the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society, the oldest continuously existing collegiate debating society in North America. She also worked with the Virginia Department of Education to create an online database of educational resources for students, teachers, businesses, and parents. In a 1998 interview with the Washington Post, Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, explained that, by keeping her career, Gilmore broke the mold for her predecessors at the time, "We've never had a first lady like Roxane Gilmore. This is a very traditional state. She's the first of a kind...In other places, even Arkansas, this happened a long time ago...We've had some very good, very active first ladies like Jeannie Baliles. But their lives have always been defined by their husband's job. Roxane is the first with a completely independent identity." In 2012, Gilmore published a book, "Restoring the Virginia Governor’s House," describing her efforts to restore the mansion.

Additionally, as first lady, Gilmore worked with the Jamestown Foundation and its excavations of colonial Jamestown, Virginia. She also collaborated with the Virginia Tourism Corporation to promotion the state's cultural and recreational attractions.

Roxane Gilmore died following a lengthy illness on August 7, 2024, at the age of 70, just one day after her 47th wedding anniversary. She was buried in Henrico County on August 17, 2024.