Kalamazoo and Gettysburg Times Obituary 1/31/12
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Bil Gilbert was and will continue to be a force of nature.
Bil loved to play devil’s advocate; if you asserted water always ran downhill,
he would try to convince you otherwise.
With a great appreciation of life, Bil passed away on January 27, 2012
in Augusta, Michigan. He was born May 30, 1927, the son of Leroy and Marjorie
Gilbert.
Bil grew up in Kalamazoo, MI and started his writing career as a teenage journalist with the Kalamazoo Gazette in the 1940s. He went on to receive a degree from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He married Ann Leander in 1950 and they lived in Washington, D.C. until 1959 when they decided to escape the corporate world and follow his dream to become a free-lance writer. They settled in a country home near Fairfield, Pennsylvania where they lived for the next 47 years. This leap of faith resulted in a six decade long career which allowed them to share his gift while living life on their terms. In 2006, they moved to Augusta, Michigan.
Constantly intrigued by flora and fauna, amateur and professional athletics, and the history of the early American frontier, he traveled the world to locales both exotic and purely American for his work, contributing more than 350 articles and essays to a variety of magazines such as Sports Illustrated, Smithsonian, National Geographic, Audubon, Esquire, Playboy, Time Magazine and the New York Times.
A well-respected and award-winning author, also penned 10 books on subjects ranging from whimsical observations of some of nature’s unique and lesser-known creatures to in-depth historical biographies of larger-than-life characters of the American frontier such as mountain man Joseph Walker. His essays and books have been republished in various languages around the world.
Bil also shared his gift of words with students at the University of Missouri, School of Journalism as a visiting professor. His passion for wordsmithing, researching and interviewing combined with his irreverent observations of current popular culture made him an entertaining and provocative speaker at Columbia, Georgetown, Princeton and many other private and public colleges and universities.
Bil was an enthusiastic sports fan and advocate of character building through competition. In his younger days he coached track and cross country, tennis and softball teams. A former Fairfield Strider speaks for many when she says, “he taught us so many life lessons and I have kept those with me all these years”. Always in tune with younger generations, he enjoyed spending time with his children and grandchildren, and composing special stories such as “The Man Who Made Pink” and “Papa Bil’s Just Why Stories” for their entertainment and delight.
His love of nature and all things wild led him to create the American Society of Crows and Ravens (ASCAR), an ersatz organization commenting as much on popular culture as on the corvidae he so admired. It was this desire to regularly commune with the natural world that created the opportunity to be tapped as one of the first advisors of the newly formed Peace Corps – taking young city volunteers on canoe and caving trips to acclimate them to a more rustic living experience.
"More than 50 years ago," wrote Gilbert, "without a clear notion about why or where I was going, I set off on a trip from Kalamazoo, Michigan. I am still traveling toward an unknown destination. But along the way, much more for reasons of good luck than thoughtful planning, I have met many wonderful beings and happenings.”
He is survived by his wife, Ann; his children, Ky, Lyn, Lee and Kate; grandchildren, Amanda, Kacy, Riley, Geoffrey; great-grandson, Sean; sister, Sue Hubbell; and his extended family of many friends, including those furred and feathered. While no service will be held, friends may visit a memorial website at bilgilbert.org to share their memories, pictures and stories. In honor of Bil, please take a moment to ponder that which you can be grateful for, enjoy nature, and get to know “other bloods”.
Bil grew up in Kalamazoo, MI and started his writing career as a teenage journalist with the Kalamazoo Gazette in the 1940s. He went on to receive a degree from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He married Ann Leander in 1950 and they lived in Washington, D.C. until 1959 when they decided to escape the corporate world and follow his dream to become a free-lance writer. They settled in a country home near Fairfield, Pennsylvania where they lived for the next 47 years. This leap of faith resulted in a six decade long career which allowed them to share his gift while living life on their terms. In 2006, they moved to Augusta, Michigan.
Constantly intrigued by flora and fauna, amateur and professional athletics, and the history of the early American frontier, he traveled the world to locales both exotic and purely American for his work, contributing more than 350 articles and essays to a variety of magazines such as Sports Illustrated, Smithsonian, National Geographic, Audubon, Esquire, Playboy, Time Magazine and the New York Times.
A well-respected and award-winning author, also penned 10 books on subjects ranging from whimsical observations of some of nature’s unique and lesser-known creatures to in-depth historical biographies of larger-than-life characters of the American frontier such as mountain man Joseph Walker. His essays and books have been republished in various languages around the world.
Bil also shared his gift of words with students at the University of Missouri, School of Journalism as a visiting professor. His passion for wordsmithing, researching and interviewing combined with his irreverent observations of current popular culture made him an entertaining and provocative speaker at Columbia, Georgetown, Princeton and many other private and public colleges and universities.
Bil was an enthusiastic sports fan and advocate of character building through competition. In his younger days he coached track and cross country, tennis and softball teams. A former Fairfield Strider speaks for many when she says, “he taught us so many life lessons and I have kept those with me all these years”. Always in tune with younger generations, he enjoyed spending time with his children and grandchildren, and composing special stories such as “The Man Who Made Pink” and “Papa Bil’s Just Why Stories” for their entertainment and delight.
His love of nature and all things wild led him to create the American Society of Crows and Ravens (ASCAR), an ersatz organization commenting as much on popular culture as on the corvidae he so admired. It was this desire to regularly commune with the natural world that created the opportunity to be tapped as one of the first advisors of the newly formed Peace Corps – taking young city volunteers on canoe and caving trips to acclimate them to a more rustic living experience.
"More than 50 years ago," wrote Gilbert, "without a clear notion about why or where I was going, I set off on a trip from Kalamazoo, Michigan. I am still traveling toward an unknown destination. But along the way, much more for reasons of good luck than thoughtful planning, I have met many wonderful beings and happenings.”
He is survived by his wife, Ann; his children, Ky, Lyn, Lee and Kate; grandchildren, Amanda, Kacy, Riley, Geoffrey; great-grandson, Sean; sister, Sue Hubbell; and his extended family of many friends, including those furred and feathered. While no service will be held, friends may visit a memorial website at bilgilbert.org to share their memories, pictures and stories. In honor of Bil, please take a moment to ponder that which you can be grateful for, enjoy nature, and get to know “other bloods”.