Gilbert was born 1-20-1928 in Tucson, Arizona. As a youngster, he worked on the family chicken farm. In his late teens, he went to work for his Uncle Paul Mitchel on his dairy farm in Pennsylvania. He went into the Army in 1949 and spent most of his service in Korea. He was honorably discharged in 1950 and returned to Tucson where he worked for his good friend Don Cookey in the service station for the next 28 years. He met Judy in 1954 and they were married in July, 1956. Gilbert is preceded in death by his parents, Herbert and Marie Messinger, and his siblings, Andy, Arthur, Wally, Patsy and Doris. He is survived by his wife, Judy, and five daughters, Margie, Shirley, Barbara, Carole, and Linda. Gilbert was a hard working man, a self taught mechanic. He worked for the City of Tucson as a mechanic from 1980 to 1993. He retired from the City and enjoyed his time doing things around the house. An opportunity arose for him to work part time at the Santa Rita Country Club, keeping the golf carts up and running. That lasted until the place burned down. We took several trips in our 5th wheel trailer. We went to Pennsylvania once and stopped in Nashville for the Grand Ole Opry. A trip to Washington State to visit our daughter, Margie, gave us a ticket for speeding through a construction zone, AFTER we had passed the zone. We also hit a deer and wrecked the front end of his truck. There were Family Reunions every year that we went to and camped on Lower Log Road in the White Mountains. He thoroughly enjoyed camping, until it got to be too much work as he got older. Gilbert enjoyed good health and kept his work ethic in keeping our 1 acre property and the house and cars in good shape. He was never a fan of watching football games, but NASCAR was a different story. He could sit and watch 2-3 hours of a race. He could tell you about the different drivers and the number and color scheme of the cars they drove. His all time favorite, of course, was Dale Earnhardt. It was a good thing we had 2 TVs so he could retire to the bedroom to watch his races, and I could watch my programs in the living room. It was our system, and it worked for us. Gilbert was a good husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, and great-great-grandfather. There are 16 grandkids, 19 great-grandkids, and 4 great-great-grandkids. RIP Gilbert. You were very much loved and will be very much missed.
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