Sylvia Sydney Galland

On January 29, 2025, Sylvia Sydney Galland (nee, McKinley) passed away peacefully at Christus Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler with her youngest child and a family friend by her side. She was 88 years old. Sylvia, aka “Mimi”, is survived by her five children: Kelley Galland of Lindale, Texas; Karen Benning of Dallas, Texas; Kimmy Hallman of Newport Beach, California; Kevin Galland of Fulbright, Texas; Kristopher Galland of Lindale, Texas; her brother, Albert McKinley and his wife, Geneva, also of Lindale, Texas. Grandsons Matthew, Joshua, Jacob, Malcolm, Grayson, and Cameron; Granddaughters Jessica, Caroline, Alexandra, Amanda, Joy Beth, and Danielle; Great-Grandsons; Ian, Jace, Liam, John Kristopher, Konnor, Korbin, and Beau; Great-Granddaughters Kelsea, Gigi, McKinley, Camden, Ellie, Collins, and Charlotte. Sylvia was preceded in death by her husband, D.E. ‘Charles’ Galland; and by her parents, Sydney McKinley and Ruby Pearl McKinley (nee, Robicheaux). Sylvia was born on July 2, 1936, in Beaumont, Texas. She graduated from Saint Anthony’s High School in Beaumont, Texas in 1954, where she met her future husband, Charles. Both went on to Lamar University in Beaumont where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and she, in Medical Technology. The high school sweethearts married on September 7, 1957. After graduation, Charles accepted a position with a firm in Richardson, Texas where they would reside and raise five children. She worked as a medical technologist at a local pediatrician's firm while their children were young, in order to offset the cost of medical bills one could expect after having four kids in five years, and one more, five years later. After the youngest was approaching adolescence, she took a position with Pediatric Allergy & Associates in Dallas. After several years of making serums for allergic, child patients, she went on to perform volunteer AIDS research in the labs of U.T Southwestern in Dallas until retiring to the Piney Woods of East Texas, where she helped establish the Lindale Public Library with her husband, Charles. Sylvia was a loving wife, a world class mother, an exceptional grandmother and the greatest great-grandmother ever. She was a world class chef, just ask anyone who was lucky enough to eat anything she made. She could have easily made a fortune in the restaurant business. She was an avid reader, murder mysteries and all things medical research. She often answered to “Dr. Mom” to the end. She will be remembered, cherished, and deeply missed by four generations of her family.

Sylvia Sydney Galland

July 2, 1936 - January 29, 2025