Jeanne L. Gilmore, a registered nurse who volunteered at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, died Oct. 30 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at her Rosslare Ridge condominium in Timonium. She was 98.

“Jeanne was extremely generous when it came to anybody or any occasion. She was a very thoughtful person,” said Dorothy McCoach, a close friend and condo neighbor. “We have 40 units here, and whenever a collection was taken, she was right there with a donation. Everyone loved Jeanne.”

Jeanne Louise Smithcors, daughter of John Smithcors and Stella Smithcors, was born in Drifton, Pennsylvania, and raised in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

During World War II, she and her mother and sister manned a forest fire tower to look for enemy aircraft.

After graduating from Hazleton High School, she earned her nursing degree from the Lenox Hill Hospital School of Nursing in New York City.

She developed an interest in treating patients afflicted with polio and worked at the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute in Georgia for a time.

Mrs. Gilmore then moved to Baltimore, where she was the supervising nurse in the polio respiratory unit at Children’s Hospital.

While at the hospital in the 1940s, she met a young medical student, George Travers Gilmore, whom she married in 1949.

She left her nursing career in 1950 after the birth of her first child but years later returned to nursing as a volunteer at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, where she logged more than 6,000 volunteer hours.

In the 1980s, Mrs. Gilmore began working as an executive assistant at the National Association of Real Estate Companies, a position she held for a number of years.

Mrs. Gilmore was the first woman to be appointed as a trustee at Loyola Blakefield High School in Towson in the late 1960s, family members said.

An adventurous woman, after high school she and her sister rode their bikes across the country, and after completing nursing school, she worked on a cruise ship to Argentina as a nurse.

“When she was 85, on her birthday she rode a Cobra race car at more than 100 mph,” said a son, Timothy Gilmore, of Winchester, Virginia.

She enjoyed playing bridge, tennis and golfing with her husband. She also liked to attend her grandchildren’s athletic events and was a diehard Orioles, Ravens and Capitals fan.

“I have a subscription to The Wall Street Journal and I was always sharing op-ed, art and theater articles with her,” Mrs. McCoach said.

Mrs. Gilmore liked spending summers in Ocean City and entertaining family and friends at holiday, graduation and birthday celebrations.

Her husband, a physician, died in 2006.

A memorial Mass was offered on Nov. 9 at Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church in Towson.

In addition to her son Timothy, she is survived by three other sons, Peter Gilmore, of Denton, Paul Gilmore, of Hunt Valley, and Thomas Gilmore, of McLean, Virginia; four daughters, Susan and Patricia Gilmore, both of Timonium, and Mary Margaret Gilmore, of Woodbine; 12 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

Two sons, George T. Gilmore Jr. and Michael Gilmore, died in 2015 and 2017, respectively.

Have a news tip? Contact Fred Rasmussen at frasmussen@baltsun.com and 410-332-6536.