Just sitting here and something reminded me of the sports talk radio show I produced in Santa Cruz way back when. Decided to search for Geoff Gilbert and happened upon his obituary. It's sad to find this out but it made me happy to see what a blessed life he lived. I had lost touch with him but always smiled whenever I thought about him. Always smiling and laughing and busting people's chops. The world became a tiny bit sadder when he passed.
Geoffrey Gilbert is my brother in law. Although departed, he'll always be the brother in law that brought so much humor and laughter into his world. The first time I met Geoffrey, was 6 weeks after I had met Paul and we were flying to California for the first time to meet his parents. Geoffrey and Allison picked us up at SFO and we drove down the coast. When we got to Dan & Lee's house, he walked into the kitchen and said to his mom, "This one is a keeper." And we've been bonded ever since.
Geoffrey LOVED this photo from our wedding. In fact, the whole series of shots of the paul and myself, always featured him, in the center, just where he liked it! He certainly did look just marvelous on that day, Who knew, he would be the star! :)
As I was reading the Sentinel, the name Geoffrey Gilbert in the obituaries struck a hard memory within me. It had been over 40 years, but days of playing basketball with the Gilbert brothers at UCSC suddenly came back to me. I was new at UCSC and playing pickup basketball at the gym when two brothers approached me and asked whether I wanted to join their intramural basketball team. Knowing almost nobody at UCSC, I immediately accepted. The brothers knew how to play and we quickly dominated the intramural league. Their east coast bravado and wit made them really fun to play with. They were just as much fun off the court as the team spent time at the house they were renting on West Cliff drive for pizza and Pralines and Cream ice cream from Baskin Robbins which Geoff (or was it Paul?) repeatedly professed as the best ice cream in the world.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Gilbert brothers, but of course, through time and distance we went our separate ways. Like Geoff, I left Santa Cruz, but managed to return after many years away. Had I known that Geoff had also returned, I would have loved to get reacquainted. But it is a testament to his fun loving personality that I never forgot him or his brother. I especially appreciated that he was willing to walk up to a newby and invite me to play a game we both loved. And Pralines and Cream still remains my favorite ice cream of all time.
Gary Fish Redenbacher
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