Franklin "Frank" Gilbert Jr.

Franklin Brooks ("Frank") Gilbert Jr. passed away peacefully on October 10, 2022, in Denver, Colorado with his two children at his side. Born October 8, 1931, in Fall River, Massachusetts to Gladys and Franklin Gilbert, Frank graduated from BMC Durfee High School in 1949.  He enrolled in the Engineering curriculum at Northeastern University in Boston and in 1954 graduated with a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering. While there, he was a member of the Beta Gamma Epsilon engineering fraternity.

After graduating, Frank joined the General Electric engineering training program and over the next three years, he worked at multiple GE plants in Lynn and Ashland, Massachusetts, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Brockport and Schenectady, New York. Upon successful completion of the training program, Frank took a permanent position as a Program Engineer with GE in Pittsfield, Massachusetts with the Naval Ordnance Division where he designed guidance and fire control systems for missiles on Nautilus through Ohio class submarines. While at GE, Frank earned a master's degree in Industrial Administration from Union College in Schenectady, New York over seven years in the 1970s, underscoring that education was a priority-something he instilled in his children. Frank remained at GE in Pittsfield for his entire career retiring in 1990.

Upon his arrival in Pittsfield in 1957, he joined the First United Methodist Church where he met Marion Eleanor Pomeroy in the church's Young Adults group. Frank and Marion married in 1959 and raised two children, David and Jane.  Frank was an active member of the church, serving on numerous committees, and remained a choir member throughout demonstrating his love of music and singing.

Frank and Marion also had a love of travel and a sense of adventure. They went to St. Croix on their honeymoon and returned to the Caribbean for milestone anniversaries to Antigua for their 25th and Sint Maarten for their 50th.  David and Jane remember fondly the family's annual summer vacations in The Outer Banks of North Carolina, and numerous trips to Washington, DC where Frank travelled often in support of GE's contract with the Navy. After retiring, Marion and Frank continued to satisfy their wanderlust traveling extensively to Western Europe and the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, the Baltic and Russia, Australia and New Zealand, Tahiti, the Panama Canal, and Alaska where they traveled north of the Arctic Circle.

In retirement, Frank's engineering skills were once again put to the test when he and Marion built a summer home on the banks of the Sakonnet River or Aquidneck Island in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, replacing an old summer cottage that Frank's grandfather had purchased in the 1940s. True to their passion, Frank and Marion joined the Portsmouth United Methodist Church and the choir and made many friends there. At the same time, they became "snowbirds" escaping New England winters and spending most of the year in Bradenton and later Lakewood Ranch, Florida. Never one satisfied to sit around the house in retirement, and with a strong interest in volunteerism, Frank joined Habitat for Humanity in both Rhode Island and Florida where he learned a lot about home construction. He was also interested in and skilled at personal finance and investing. Frank put this interest and skill to work, becoming a volunteer for AARP's Tax Aide program in Bradenton, helping seniors file their income tax returns. He continued that work for several years including four as District Coordinator for Manatee County, Florida.

As the upkeep of two houses became more than Frank and Marion could manage, they sold the Portsmouth property and spent the entire year in Florida, which also afforded them more time for travel.  In 2011, they sold their house in Lakewood Ranch and moved to an assisted living apartment in Denver, Colorado, close to their daughter, Jane, where once again, they became members of the United Methodist Church until Marion's death in 2018. Frank continued in assisted living and later skilled nursing in the Denver area as he required more care for his physical needs. He remained mentally sharp up until his death.

Frank is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Jane and Chris Chadwick, of Centennial, Colorado, and his son and daughter-in-law, David and Joyce Gilbert of Wollaston, Massachusetts. Consistent with his wishes, Frank will be cremated and interred next to Marion at the Pomeroy family plot in Morningside Cemetery, Gaylordsville, Connecticut at a time convenient to the family.

Given the importance to Frank of both education and faith, friends and family wishing to remember him are encouraged to donate in his honor to Northeastern University (https://giving.northeastern.edu/live/forms/28-1) the Portsmouth United Methodist Church, 2732 East Main Road,  Portsmouth, RI 02871 (www.pumcri.com) or an educational or faith-based organization meaningful to the giver.