Harry H. Gilbert Gilbert Plimpton

Harry Gilbert Plimpton was born on July 28, 1918, in Mt. Hope, Wisconsin to Harry Arthur Plimpton and Minnie Augusta Alderson Plimpton. Southwest Wisconsin was an agricultural community and dairies were prevalent throughout the area; hence, though his family lived in town, Gilbert spent most of his summers on his paternal grandfather’s dairy farm a mile outside of Mt. Hope. The summer of 1935, however, he enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps at Fort Sheridan, Ill. Gilbert participated in sports during high school, playing on the basketball and baseball teams. In 1936 he served as senior class president and graduated valedictorian of his class.

The following year Gilbert enrolled in the Wisconsin School of Mines in Platteville, graduating in June, 1939. His first job was working at a gold mine in Monticello, California, followed by employment in a mercury mine 70 miles north of Sacramento. Gilbert was working with the Pacific Bridge Company in San Francisco as a construction engineer when inducted into the U.S. Army on July 6, 1943. He was a member of the 493rd Bomb Squad 7th Bombadier Group AAF (H), serving in the China/Burma/India theater.

Gilbert’s rank was Staff Sargent and his occupational specialties were radio operator, mechanic and waist gunner. The squad did bombing runs over Burma and, as part of the China Defensive ATC (Air Transport Command), made night flights into China from December, 1944, until March of 1945. They flew without any defensive weapons; instead, they carried two- to three-thousand gallons of gasoline to be delivered to a storage base in China. The gasoline was transported in 500-gallon containers in the wing bays and 1,000-gallon containers in the bomb bays of the B-24. Upon delivery of their payload, they flew back empty in daylight. On one of the night flights, the navigator lost direction. Gilbert, as radio operator, triangulated their position. There were four possible radio signals he could have used. He made contact on the last attempt, and they found their way back to base. If Gilbert had not made contact and established their location, they would not have survived. When they landed, there was only an inch of gas left in the plane’s fuel tank. There were 21 men on board.

Gilbert was decorated and discharged from the Army in December, 1945. He returned to Mt. Hope where he met his future wife, Elva Rene Daughhetee. In January of 1946 he enrolled in the Missouri School of Mines in Rollo, Missouri. He and Elva Rene were married on May 29, 1946. Their honeymoon was a car trip to west Texas to meet Elva Rene’s family, who had relocated there from Wisconsin. Gilbert completed his B.S. degree at Rollo in December, 1946, staying on as a graduate student until June of 1947 when he took a position with Howe Sound Mining Company in Holden, Washington. During this time Gilbert and Elva Rene’s daughter, Pamela, was born (1950) followed by her sister, Christine (1952). Gilbert and Elva Rene loved their years in Holden and made many life-long friends among those in the community there. In June of 1953 the family moved to Lake Grove, Oregon, then in 1954 to the Bay Area in California when Gilbert was offered a position with the U.S. Bureau of Mines Health and Safety Division in the Department of Interior. A transfer to the Intermountain Region took the family to Salt Lake City where Gilbert worked until he retired as Sub-District Region Manager in 1988, having earned numerous commendations from the Mines Health and Safety Administration for his achievements throughout his career.

During their 35 years in Salt Lake City, Gil and Elva Rene were active members of the community. Gilbert was an excellent bowler and competed in a city-wide league as a member of the Christ United Methodist Church bowling team. Gil’s prowess at the sport, helped his team collect several first place trophies. In the mid-1970’s Gilbert and Elva Rene became heavily involved in the Canyon Rim Citizens Association formed to prevent commercial development in Parley’s Canyon. Nearly ten years of lobbying and grass roots organizing on the part of the CRCA yielded Tanner Park, a park and nature area open to the public. Gilbert and Elva Rene continued to be involved in the maintenance of Tanner Park until 1995 when they moved to Portland, Oregon, to be near family.

Family was important to Gilbert. Pamela and Christy have memories of summer road trips to Wisconsin to visit relatives. Gil and Elva Rene chose varied routes for the journey to and fro, stopping in state capitols and visiting state and national parks. By the time each girl graduated from high school, she had been in nearly every continental state west of the Mississippi River and across the borders into Canada and Mexico. And, though Gilbert had said that after his return from service in WW II he did not care to ever leave the States again, he was sent on business to Brazil in 1978. Elva Rene accompanied him and that trip was the first of many trips outside the U.S. They toured Europe, being particularly interested in visiting France where Gilbert’s father and uncle had fought in WW I. Their trip included a stop at Normandy, where Elva Rene’s brother had landed in the D-Day offensive. They also visited Hawaii, Fiji, Australia and New Zealand forming friendships with their fellow tourists that continued for the rest of their lives.

Gilbert and Elva Rene also valued the arts and generously encouraged their daughters to explore their talents by giving them dance and music lessons. Their daughters are grateful for this investment and both are active musicians to this day. To Gilbert’s delight, grandson Christopher took up the trumpet in grade school and continued to play throughout high school and college.

Gilbert’s fascination with the rocks and minerals that were a part of his work world was manifest in his interest in lapidary. He had a lapidary saw and a rock tumbler that yielded polished stones which eventually found their way into gift boxes for family and friends in the form of key chains, pendants and necklaces. He and Elva Rene were rock hounds, heading out into the high desert of the intermountain west to look for interesting specimens. Early on he taught his daughters to recognize the difference between real gold and “fools gold,” between anthracite and bituminous coal and to know what minerals were present in a hillside bank by the color of the soil. Gilbert was also handy around the house, taking on many home improvement projects. Perhaps the project most enduring to the girls’ childhood memories was the tree house Gilbert built for them in the back yard of their Salt Lake home. Set in the crotch of a hundred-foot Chinese Elm tree, the triangular platform with the cabled rope tied around a nearby branch afforded them many hours of imaginative play.

One member of the family who regularly drew Gilbert and Elva Rene to Portland before their permanent move to the area was their only grandchild, Christopher. Once established in Portland, Gilbert and Elva Rene delighted in attending Christopher’s activities and were faithful fans at sporting events, school programs, and band concerts. Gilbert delighted in all of Christopher’s accomplishments and spent as much time as possible with his grandson.

Gilbert Plimpton will be remembered for his quiet, unassuming manner, his wry wit and ready smile. He was a thoughtful, dedicated professional, a conscientious citizen and a loving husband and father. Harry Gilbert Plimpton was a member of a generation of men and women who often came from ordinary circumstances yet responded to extraordinary times and situations with extraordinary actions. Gilbert was a member of “the greatest generation,” and exemplified such by living his life with the quality that is a singular trait in that generation: integrity.

Gilbert died of complications from prostate cancer. He died peacefully in the presence of his daughters the afternoon of September 8, 2015 at his home in Portland, Oregon. He was preceded in death by his parents Harry and Minnie Plimpton, by his wife of 67 years, Elva Rene Plimpton (2014) and by his sister, Marian Knappmiller (2013). He is survived by his daughter Pamela Plimpton-Grafe (Rod), by his daughter, Christy Plimpton, by his grandson, Christopher Grafe, and by in-laws, nieces and nephews from both his and Elva Rene’s families. Gilbert left the world a better place. He will be greatly missed.

A memorial service will be held at 2pm on Sunday, September 13, 2015 at Gateway Little Chapel of the Chimes, 1515 NE 106th Avenue, Portland, OR 97220. A committal service will begin at 9:30am on Friday, September 18, 2015 at Willamette National Cemetery, 11800 SE Mt. Scott Blvd., Portland OR 97086. .