Adele S. Gilbert

Adele S. Gilbert, 72, of St. Petersburg, passed away July 9, 2011. Born and raised in her beloved Bridgeport, CT., Adele graduated from Roger Ludlow High School and Simmons College, Boston, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education, with a major in Biology Education. In her senior year at Simmons, she met Gordon Gilbert, then a resident on the Harvard neurology service at Boston City Hospital, and they married one month after her graduation. They moved to New Haven where Adele carried on bacteriological research in the Yale laboratories of Paul Beeson, M.D., while Gordon was chief resident in Neurology at Yale. They spent two years at Travis Air Force Base, CA, where daughter Benette was born, and two further years at Yale-New Haven Medical Center, where daughter Stefanie was born, before moving in 1965 to St. Petersburg, where son, Benjamin, was born. Adele was a devoted and loving mother. While her children were young, she began taking courses at St. Petersburg Junior College and, together with Gordon, took a full-year course in art history that proved life altering, as they became collectors of Dutch and Flemish Old Master paintings, a life-long hobby. Throughout her life, Adele remained a steadfast supporter of Simmons College and furthered her own education, earning from St. Petersburg Junior College a degree in Basic Nursing Therapy, and becoming board certified as a biofeedback therapist. Adele began working in Gordon's neurology office as biofeedback therapist in 1985, and in 1994 earned her Master's degree in Mental Health Counseling from Nova University. Since 1996, she volunteered as Mental Health Counselor at Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services, where she was known as "Miss Adele" and gave weekly workshops at its facility for the treatment of mental and addictive disorders, which will be funded in her Will. For many years, Adele served as the facilitator of the South Pinellas County Holocaust Survivor Support Group. Because of her loyal and effective service and support, Adele was elected to the Board of Trustees of Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services and received a Lifetime Achievement Award for her volunteer service in assisting survivors of the Holocaust and survivors of drug abuse. Adele was a loyal member and supporter of Temple Beth-El in St. Petersburg, and regularly attended Shabbat services and Torah studies. She treasured Jewish life and was always eager to enhance her knowledge of Judaism. She will be deeply missed by her family and many close friends. An unanticipated highlight of Adele's last decade was her warm friendship with her English bulldog, Lady Millicent Prune Pudding. Survivors include her husband, Gordon J. Gilbert, M.D., her children, Benette Gilbert (Dr. Robert) Rosen, Benjamin (Csilla) Gilbert of St. Petersburg and Dr. Stefanie Gilbert of Rockville, MD, her six grandchildren, Miranda Rose Rosen, Maxwell Harrison Rosen, Micah Adam Rosen, Marek Anshel Haar, Eszter Rozsa Gilbert, and Izsak Balint Gilbert, her brother and in-laws, William and Phyllis Schwartz, and Lynne and Alan Leslie, nieces Faye Lindsey, Tori Miller, and Lisa Kario, and nephews Jay Schwartz, Russell Schwartz and Brian Leslie. Services will be held 10am Monday, July 11th at Temple Beth-El, 400 Pasadena Avenue South, St. Petersburg. Interment will follow at Chapel Hill Memorial Park in Largo. David C. Gross Funeral Homes, Central Avenue Chapel, St. Petersburg is serving the family. Service Information