Vilma Graciela (D'Croz) Gavlick

Vilma Graciela (D’Croz) Gavlick, 80, of Wormleysburg died peacefully at her home on Wednesday, May 19, 2021. Vilma faced her long illness with Parkinson’s disease with a strength typical of her character, often putting her family’s needs and feelings before her own.
She was loved greatly and will be dearly missed by her family and friends.

Vilma retired in 1997 after more than 20 years with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Camp Hill. Previously, she worked as a home health aide and as a telephone operator. Her greatest joys after early retirement were spending time with her family and babysitting her grandchildren and going to their sporting events and other activities; gardening; reading; going to the movies and watching “their shows” with her husband; talking by phone in her native Spanish with her far away sisters and friends; and feeding the many wild birds, squirrels, rabbits, and occasional cat, who found themselves at her doorstep. She was jokingly called the animal whisperer. She learned to swim in the Pacific Ocean, and in later years enjoyed swimming at the YMCA with her friends. In her youth, she danced ballet and salsa, and her love of dancing endured and was passed on to the next generation. There wasn’t a genre of music she didn’t enjoy, including pop, country, classical, disco, Motown, even heavy metal! Vilma was also a wonderful cook, gifting us with many of her Panamanian dishes, and her adopted Polish food by marriage.

She was born December 19, 1940 in beautiful Panama City, Panama to the late Luis Carlos D’Croz and Adelina Trevia de Pérez. She moved to the United States with her family in 1971 after her husband’s Vietnam War tour in Panama ended. She was the widow of Raymond A. Gavlick, who passed in 2020, and was also predeceased in death by her brother Abdiel Pérez Trevia, grandson Jacob Gavlick, stepfather Ovidio Pérez, and step granddaughter Danyell Gavlick.

Vilma is survived by her daughter Katherine (Craddock) Hayes, son-in-law Edward Hayes, and granddaughter Maddy Hayes, Exeter, PA; her son Ray Gavlick and grandchildren Mackenzie and Conner Gavlick, Camp Hill, PA; son Daryle Gavlick and daughter-in-law Melissa (Keller) Gavlick, and grandchildren Lindsay and Mason Gavlick, Camp Hill, PA. She is also survived by her siblings Olivia Wigle, Sierra Vista, AZ, and her Panama and Venezuela siblings Octavio Pérez Trevia, Karina Pérez Trevia, Nancy Cordovez, Ovidio Pérez Trevia, and Haydee Pérez Trevia, Luis Carlos D’Croz, Elizabeth D’Croz, stepson Michael Gavlick and step grandson Michael Gavlick, Jr., Nashville, TN., and many nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be from 10 am – 11 am immediately followed by a service at Parthemore Funeral Home, New Cumberland. Committal will follow in Indiantown Gap National Cemetery, Hanover Twp.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Parkinson’s Disease medical research via the Michael J. Fox Foundation, P.O. Box 5014, Hagerstown, MD 217-41-5014 (www:michaeljfox.org)

For more information or to send messages of condolence, please visit www.parthemore.com