Gilbert Gilbertson

Gilbert Gilbertson was born on August 11, 1936 in Sioux City, Iowa to Lloyd and Donna Gilbertson. His family headed West to Portland, Oregon when Gil was about 4 years old. As a young man, his first job was delivering papers for the Portland Journal at the young age of 9. He would go on to attend Benson High School in Portland, where he hosted a weekly radio show on the Benson School radio station, KBPS, which is now Portland’s All Classical 89.9. This is apt, as Gil’s Saturday morning show was a classical music show for kids. He was a very busy young man, who enjoyed working at the famous restaurant, Tik Tok. He was also employed at Union Pacific Railroad as an Electrician’s Apprentice under his father Lloyd. For fun, he roller skated with clubs at Oaks Park, where met his future bride Barbara Ramey, and the two fell in love. Gil and Barbara would marry on May 31, 1957. Gil left for Air Force Reserve boot camp soon after. The following decade or so brought five baby girls into their lives, Kristi, Kathy, Sherri, Lynn and Linda. Gil left the Air Force Reserve following the Bay of Pigs scare in 1963, and worked for Tektronix, while attending night school at Portland State University. Family life was busy, raising five daughters in the seventies, and Gil took a job as a manager for Snead’s Rentals on TV Highway in Beaverton. For over a decade he made quite a name for himself in the community for being brutally honest, good to his crew, and a loyal employee. The job he would be best remembered for was that of husband and father to the ladies in his life! He was always working, even when he got home from work, taking his wife shopping, or carting one or more of his daughters to band practice, theater, or jobs. He never stopped working for his girls! Gil passed away in the early hours of Monday, December 3, 2018, with loving family around him. He was preceded in death by his lovely wife Barbara on December 29, 2002. He was a devoted grandfather for the last fifteen years of his life attending events from the smallest to the most important for his grandchildren; Andrew, Simon, Christopher, Jessica, Josh, Nick and Will! He is survived by his five daughters: Kristi (Keith) Knight, Kathy (Thomas) Lang, Sherri Beutler. her fiancé Ray Papajack, Lynn (Dale) Frison and Linda (Chris) Coburn. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, gifts be made in his name to Shriners Hospitals for Children.