He served as a page in the House of Representatives from 1911 to 1919, and graduated from the law school of the University of Oklahoma in Norman in 1923.

Admitted to the bar in 1923, he commenced the practice of law in Wetumka, Oklahoma, and also served as a police judge and mayor.

[1] Gilmer served as member of the State house of representatives in 1927.

[4] He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1950 to the Eighty-second Congress, and the governor appointed him state safety commissioner.

He is interred at Memorial Park Cemetery in Oklahoma City.