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March 16, 2005
Tecopa's Gilbert recognized by Death Valley Chamber74-YEAR-OLD SPENT ROUGHLY 50 YEARS PERFORMING GOOD DEEDS
By ROBIN FLINCHUM
More than 50 years ago Gilbert saw that these remote communities needed supplies and made it his life's work to provide them. But now, instead of bringing groceries out of Las Vegas, he visits many of the stops on his old route to collect what's left when the groceries are all gone - empty tin cans, drained milk jugs, old pizza boxes - and hauls them in the other direction, to a recycling plant in Las Vegas. It's only a quirk of fate that found Gilbert hauling these recyclables, the remnants of someone else's grocery business now, to Las Vegas. He simply saw a need in a community that has no access to convenient recycling and stepped in to fill it. "Someone's got to do it," he shrugs, "and I have a lot of fun while I'm at it." This attitude, which encompasses many other contributions Gilbert has made to the small communities in Southeast Inyo County, is what prompted the Death Valley Chamber to elect him its Citizen of the Year. And this is the year for celebration in the Gilbert household. In August, George and his wife Arlene will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary and two weeks ago 73-year-old Arlene retired from a 50-year career as a registered nurse in Las Vegas. In that often-transient town, where few can make such a claim of longevity, Arlene Gilbert's achievements were lauded by the Las Vegas Review-Journal and she was feted by her peers at the Valley View Surgical Center. Recently, at the Death Valley Chamber of Commerce's annual brunch, George Gilbert will officially receive his Citizen of the Year award. After that, the Gilberts say, they'll be living full time in their Tecopa home, traveling to Las Vegas every couple of weeks to visit children and grandchildren and deliver the latest load of recycling - and making the most of the clean air and hot water in Tecopa. Although living in Las Vegas full time until recently, they've owned their Tecopa property since 1977, when they bought a small lot with a rough old trailer on it. Over the years, they installed a doublewide mobile home and drilled a well to build their own personal hot bath. They are among the few private residents in Tecopa whose property allows them private access to the hot mineral water so popular among visitors to this tiny town. And the Gilberts can remember when the town wasn't so tiny. When George first started delivering groceries here for his uncle in 1951, he was a "kid just out of high school," he says. "On summer afternoons driving that truck I'd ask myself what the heck I was doing. I couldn't imagine why in the world anyone would want to live out here." When the local mines were still going in the 1960s, Gilbert says, "there was nothing but miners here and they drank with both fists!" But the town was really going then and had two grocery stores where he made deliveries. He also stopped in Shoshone, Death Valley Junction and Beatty, and gradually a love for the area grew on him. In the 1970s, when the Gilberts became weekend and holiday residents, they always pitched in and helped out with the annual Amargosa Days parade. George's delivery truck proudly pulled the float carrying the parade king and queen. "They always used to have the citizen of the year riding in the parade," George says, though at the time he hadn't thought of himself in that role. "I remember the year Stella Rook got it, that was great, seeing her smile up there." But as the years went by and Gilbert took over the grocery trucking business from his uncle, Tecopa began to dwindle and Las Vegas continued to grow. Eventually, the Gilberts came to value even more the quiet, the clear sky and the many friendships they formed. But they still had things to achieve. At work in Las Vegas, Arlene witnessed the first ever kidney transplant in a Las Vegas hospital in 1989, and in 1993 helped open the trauma unit at the University Medical Center. She held hands, cheered hearts, assisted in births, had compassion following deaths - and she also raised three children. After 50 years of such fulfilling work, Arlene says she isn't sure she can adjust to a life of leisure. This is the second time she's tried retirement, the last was more than 10 years ago. "It's hard to just stop working after 50 years, it's a new era of my life," she said. But she plans to take some quilting classes and catch up on her reading. "I'll enjoy being in Tecopa and spending more time with George," she says. Arlene arrived in Las Vegas as George's bride 50 years ago, just after she graduated nursing school. They had been high school sweethearts, albeit long distance, and met when George's Methodist minister father took him on a youth camp trip to Upland, Calif., where Arlene lived. After George served in the Army during the Korean War, they renewed their courtship. In those days, Arlene says, the Bishop Johnson Nursing College she attended would not allow its students to marry. So as soon as she graduated, George and Arlene were married and settled down in Las Vegas, where George grew up. Eventually, George took over the trucking business from his uncle. While Arlene's career progressed from school nurse to working in some of the most sophisticated trauma units in Nevada, George's trucking firm also prospered. Because he knew so many people in the food business, he was often able to quietly put a word in here or a helping hand there and arrange for countless Southeast Inyo nonprofit community groups over the years to receive free food for barbecues, spaghetti dinners, pancake feeds and more. With friends at Burger King and Carl's Junior restaurants, he helped coordinate free meals for children's field trips and provide gift certificates as awards in any number of ceremonies. "I don't think there's a nonprofit in this area that hasn't been touched by his generosity," said Kari Coughlin, director of the Death Valley Chamber of Commerce. "No matter what group needs help, George is one of the few people who is always ready and willing. He never says 'I don't have time.' He just jumps right in." Now that Arlene is officially retired, the Gilberts say they are looking forward to a full time life in Tecopa. "It's so nice out there," said Arlene. "The sky is clear and it's just more serene." As glad as they are to be here, the community is even gladder to have them. |
