Mary Jean Clawson Gilbert

After a weekend full of gardening and a Sunday spent with her family, Mary Gilbert unexpectedly passed away Monday, May 24, 2010. Survived by her loving husband John; daughters, Julie and Sheila; her beloved grandchildren, Brad, Nicholas, Ryan and Kaitlyn and "adopted" grandkids Alex, Krissy and Kelsey; sisters, Marge, Marilyn and Milly, brother Mike and scads of nieces, nephews and friends.

Those we love can never be more than a thought apart, for as long as there are memories, Mary will live on in our hearts.

The funeral will be Thurs., May 27, at 2:00 p.m. at Olinger Chapel Hill Mortuary, 6601 S. Colorado Blvd.

Mary Gilbert always said she slid in just under the wire. Her father, Donald Clawson wanted a boy and created 4 girls getting there - Mary being the youngest before Rich came along! Mary was born January 4, 1933 to Don and Dorothy Clawson in New London, Ohio. Mary always said it was the big girls - Marge and Marilyn and the little girls - Milly and her working through the day Saturday to get the assigned chores done around the farm house so they could go out Saturday night. Her little mom would climb up on the chair to check for dust around the doors and heaven help them if things weren't just right! All her homes have always been perfect going forward - tagged "Right out of Better Homes and Gardens" by all.

A natural beauty, Mary was a majorette, cheerleader, Girl Scout, prom queen and participant in the Ms. Georgia Peach contest. On August 14, 1945, VJ Day, she lead all the kids in the school out for an impromptu victory day parade, taking the pots and pans out of the school kitchen to make sure everyone heard the news! After graduation she headed down to Atlanta to join her sister Marilyn and new husband Bill for a while. She was going to school for interior design while working as a phone operator when she heard you could get a free plane ride if you applied with Capital, so on whim, she and a friend signed up and flew to Washington DC for an interview - that whim lead her to a new life - working with the airlines - she was dispatched to Willow Run in Detroit, Michigan. John can't remember how it came about, but at some point during the trip up to Detroit, she was sitting on her suitcase crying. A gentleman stopped to ask her what was wrong and she exclaimed "I have a job I didn't really want and have to be in Detroit but don't have enough money for the ticket to get there." He loaned her the money and with her first paycheck she mailed the loan right back to him. Thereafter, when working on the ticket counter if one of the servicemen came through and was short for their ticket home, she would always help out . . . and they always sent her the money back. She spread joy and care with EVERYONE she met where ever she found them. She met many celebrities while working the desk back then - Gerald Ford was a regular, when Stevie Wonder came through she thought the gentleman was under the influence until one of her co-workers let her know who he was. Jimmie Hoffa chatted with mom so frequently he gave her gifts - including a green bathroom scale (odd, but true)!

When Mary had been with Capital for about a year, she was working nights, and golfing and sunbathing during the day. At the start of each of her shifts, a certain cool young man who worked days would ask her out for a beer. She'd just laugh and say, "I don't drink beer." Frequently one or more of her tires were flat the next morning just as that charmer was coming back in to work and he would stop to give her a hand with the car. Finally, after their friends let the air out of Mary's tires once too often, they went out together, and romance bloomed after a quick 6 month courtship Mary married John Franklin Gilbert on September 6, 1958. They settled in John's home town of Ypsilanti, Michigan and when the Gault family farm was sold to a subdivision, built their first home together. Dad told Mom she could have whatever she wanted. Beautiful hard wood floors covered with a deep blue, wall to wall carpet, a wall of pure white Georgia marble fireplace in the living room with solid brass fixtures were just some of the designs Mary incorporated in her home.

She stayed with the airlines, taking a leave when her first daughter, Julia was born in August 1962. Soon after followed little Sheila who Mary had to share with Julie since she insisted the new darling was "her baby" tipping over the cradle once to often trying to care for her baby sister. Mary quickly moved Sheila into a sturdier crib and proceeded to raise her two little delights with frilly dresses, muddy camping trips in Ludington, Michigan and glorious trips world-wide going to Hawaii, Africa, Australia, Europe and all over the U.S. Each year the family would do one camping trip and one flying trip, keeping an evenness between John's passion for the outdoors and Mary's passion for travel, exploration, soft beds and hot showers!

The family moved from Michigan to Pennsylvania when Julie was about 3 and Sheila just 1. Mary had been driving to the airport each week to pick up John who was commuting back and forth until the move was arranged. She'd sing "We're gonna go get our Daddy, we're gonna get our Daddy and bring him home" on the way to the airport to keep her babies entertained. Finally when it was time for the move, things were almost ready to go, but no John. A bit more packing and getting the girls ready, and still no John. She was calmly listening to the movers explain that she should stay right behind them and flash her lights if she needed anything or if she had to stop for any reason and telling her mother-in-law that she and the girls would be fine and John could just catch up when John came flying up in a taxi from the airport just in time to join the crew! After a year of living in Hickory Farms with the big spiders but nice neighbors, the couple was ready to break ground on their new home and John got the call - they were going back to Michigan! Packed and ready to go in no time, they kicked out the renters and were back in their old home on S. Grove Road just 4 doors down from John's sister and Mom. In April of '71 the family moved to Chicago living in Bloomingdale, Illinois for 8 years before coming out to Colorado during the blizzard of '79. Mary said it was the first home they didn't have built new and it's was the one they stayed in the longest!

As their girls grew, Mary and John were both active in Band Boosters and the PTA - Mary served as everything from secretary to president all while helping the girls type their papers into the wee hours of the morning when they procrastinated too long on their homework, maintaining a beautiful home and glorious gardens; and working full-time at places like World Wide Travel, Eastern Airlines, United Airlines and Gallelo as ticket agent, payroll clerk or travel agent.

Time flew by, and soon mary had new babies on her lap in the form of grandchildren. Sheila had Brad first on Friday May 13, 1988. Mary was right there, standing at the doorway when the doctor said, "where are the forceps!" and Mom went running out to the nurses station to make sure they got the missing tool in there immediately! You might mess with a doctor, but you SURE don't mess with a new Grandma nick-named Mean Mary Jean! Mary and John both doted on their little grandson and was there with him every step of the way, attending all the school functions, concerts, games and activities from preschool on. In fact they just got back from going up to visit their "adopted" granddaughter and Brad's girlfriend Krissy's graduation from CSU on May 14th. They spent the 13th at the Moot House, their favorite hang-out up there, celebrating Brad's birthday, then the 14th cheering on their Krissy.

Little Nicholas was born to Julie and Kristoffer on July 10, 1997 and Mary and John were waiting just outside the door to the birthing room to walk by Julie down to her room after welcoming their new little grandson. That swingset they put up in their backyard and were just about ready to remove got some more use. Mary took great delight in helping to plan the birthday parties and celebrations for her boys to enjoy through the years - with star dot cakes of Winnie the Pooh for Nicholas', Christmas packages decorated with Santa faces made out of cotton balls and googley eyes, and many a backyard Easter Egg hunt in her delightful garden. During the summer she would take Nicholas down to Cherry Creek Reservoir for KFC picnics and they would hunt for sea shells (as opposed to the drift would she use to look for in the upper peninsula of Michigan with her girls when they were little). After she retired she would take Nicholas on little adventures during the summer whether out for ice cream or up to the mountains for an explore.

God send another set of blessings (also known as God's karmic joke) to Julie and Kris on October 12, 2004 in the form of Ryan and Kaitlyn. Mary's eyes teared up when she learned that Kaitlyn's middle name would be Dorothy after Mary's own beloved mother. She called Katie her peaches and cream girl. John and Mary were both retired by then after 48 and 49 years in the travel industry and they filled their days not with golf, gardening and travel, but watching the twins two days a week. At nap time John and Mary would plop down in the green recliners, each with a baby on their chest and all four would take a nice nap. To this day, Grandma and Grandpa's is the favorite place for the twins to go. Grandma always has a fruit and cheese tray with apple slices ready for them along with a big hug and kiss and time to spend chatting about their day and perhaps sharing an art project that they will all put together at the kitchen table using feathers, paint and stickers.

All four children spend LOTS of time in Grandma's garden, helping her pull weeds, plant flowers, and of course, watering the plants in the greenhouse is a vied for favorite. Mary worked hard to instill in her children and grandchildren the process of doing things just right, loving the earth and playing in the dirt!

In 2008 Mary and John celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. In preparation for the shin-dig, Julie asked her dad and mom to recall their special day so many years ago. Here's the story directly from Mary.

Mary told John, "well, 48 years ago you were playing cribbage with Uncle Fred all day - even forgot to go out and get candles for the service." Getting the candles was John's one job - they needed special candles for scones in the church. Well he was out hustling late that afternoon to scrounge enough for Mom's carefully planned candlelight wedding!

"We had the Rehearsal Dinner at the Huron Hotel, which was THE place to go then. The bill was $57 or $59 for a sit-down dinner in a private room for 15 people. White table clothes, the whole deal - we still have the bill, Mother Gilbert gave it to us as a keepsake since is was so outrageous - times have certainly changed.

The bridesmaids wore a salmon color, with Marge in a deeper salmon color. Milly couldn't be in the wedding because she had just given birth to Susan. She was sad that Mom and Dad wouldn't move the date so she could attend (she wasn't pregnant when they planned the wedding), but I said she shouldn't have fooled around!

I had a gorgeous gown - I was down to a size 10 by the time the wedding got there. Got the wedding gown and she (the seamstress) had to keep taking it in and taking it in - there were so many things to do I just was a bundle of nerves and not eating. I got an off-white because I looked terrible in white, white. Everyone said 'a bride is to wear white' but I wouldn't because it just didn't look good on me. I took care of the whole wedding, paid for it and everything. Of course Mom and Dad were in Ohio and they didn't have the money so I handled the whole thing. Your Grandpa always said he'd never wear one of those monkey suits, but of course he did.

When we had our talk with the minister I told him the vows will say "love, honor and cherish, I will not obey." Your Dad just sat there and said 'I can't control her'. The next day our minister, well, my minister from the Congregational Church, Rev. Spear, had a heart attack. Everyone said it was because I had upset him so with the vow thing. When we got Reverend Brewer from the Methodist Church Mother Gilbert said 'you just leave the vows as they are and don't upset Rev Brewer'. When we went in to talk to him I made it clear that the vows had to say cherish and not obey. Rev. Brewer said "I understand that Mary, I heard about it before you even came in!" I told him "and it will be Husband and Wife, not Man and Wife" too. When he got to the vows during the ceremony I whispered "cherish" and he laughed and I laughed and he went on to say cherished. They all said that I was the first to draw the line on that and I figured it was time someone did. Rev. Spears went on and recovered just fine.

The night of the wedding, Gary locked John out of the church in the rain. Sue, our vocalist was running late. I'm standing in the back there with Mom, Marge, and Mother Gilbert and, the music kept playing and playing. I said to Marge, "One more song and I'm out of here." Mother Gilbert kept saying "what does she mean, what does she mean?"

At the church after the service we had cake and coffee and that was it. The wedding was at 7:00 at night because I had wanted a candlelight service, back then you didn't have big sit-down dinners and of course Mom and Dad didn't drink, my folks didn't believe in drinking at all, so cake coffee, toss the rice and on the road.

After the reception, the plan was to just leave the church with the rice throw and all of that, change clothes to hit the road for our honeymoon in Canada. Uncle Howard had been taking pictures with John's camera and as we drove away we realized we forgot to get the camera. We knew everyone was heading back to Ardi's house to party so we headed there and hit the batch of martuni's in the fridge and greeted everyone as they arrived. After a few drinks I said 'John, we have to stop for food, I'm starved' (she hadn't eaten all day). Everyone said, we'll come along too. So we all went out to Smiggins - a combo restaurant and bar. We had always hung out there and one of the pilots, Black Nigrin, that was a good of theirs was there joined us and said drinks and dinner are on me. After dinner we drove on up to Canada and it rained all the way. Dad was carrying a box with new pair of shoes that Mom told him "don't you dare drop those" and of course you know what happened - right in a mud puddle."

Mary laughed after that along with the rest of us in the room. She summed up the story with the perfect close for this history.

"It's been a lot of fun along the way. It's all what makes life goes round."