Early in the morning, on Friday, March 18, we received a phone call from our friend, Pastor Herb Gilbert that his precious wife of 65 years, Glenda Ann Holley Gilbert passed on to be with the Lord the previous night. We were saddened and grieved, because the Gilberts have been our long time friends and we loved Glenda Gilbert, one of my wife, Gaylon’s best friends ever. Glenda suffered two strokes in recent years. Her last stroke, in May 2021 paralyzed her left side, leaving her unable to walk. Her condition has progressively worsened over these last ten months. She was 81, the same age as me.
Our friendship began when Herb and I were students in 1960 at the Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri. We became much better friends when we both pastored within 50 miles of each other in the 1970s. He was a pastor in Taylor, Michigan and I was in Toledo, Ohio. We attended Pastors meetings together almost every month and often with our wives. Ever since, we have maintained and built our friendship, visiting one another, being together in meetings and going on numerous trips together.
Over this long term relationship, we have come to know Glenda very well. I believe four words can describe her. The first, was Glenda’s FAITH. She accepted Jesus Christ as her personal savior at age eleven, during a Youth For Christ meeting where Billy Graham was the speaker. She has been a follower of Jesus Christ ever since. She married her high school sweetheart, Herb Gilbert on December 1, 1956. Of this union were born three children; Sherry Gilbert Gilmore, Debbie Gilbert Matthews and Steve Gilbert, who also survive her.
As newlyweds, they attended Temple Baptist Church in Detroit, where G. B. Vick was pastor. When Herb surrendered to the call to the ministry, Glenda accepted that God had also called her to be a pastor’s wife. By faith, she committed herself to that role. She assisted in the Pastor’s Bible Class. She came to services well ahead of time, to warmly greet all who attended. She cared for people. She tried to make people feel wanted and loved. She could sing. She sang in the choir, sang solos and sang with groups. She planned and hosted meetings for women. My wife says that when they were out and about shopping, if Glenda saw someone sad or discouraged, she went to them and talked to them about the Lord and how He could meet their needs. She made herself available to counsel and pray with anyone who might need it. As a personal matter, she read her Bible and prayed every day. She had a goal to read her Bible through every year. When we visited their home, she always had a Bible and devotional materials on the lamp table by her chair in the living room. Glenda Gilbert was a woman of faith.
Second, Glenda was FAITHFUL. You have already seen how she was faithful to the Lord and the ministry. She was also faithful to her husband. When Herb Gilbert was in Bible college training for the ministry, Glenda worked full-time as a telephone operator at AT&T to help pay the bills and put food on the table. In the ups and downs of life over all their years of ministry, you never had to guess where Glenda was in relation to her husband. She was always in his corner. Always supporting him, helping him and loving him. She was a faithful wife.
She was also faithful to her family. In multiple ways she showed love to her children, grand children and great grand children. Before they all grew up, she loved to cook for her family. When it was just she and Herb, not so much. She always expressed her love with words of endearment, words of encouragement and sometimes words of admonition. She also loved by providing for their needs and giving them gifts. Glenda was faithful to her husband and family.
Third, Glenda was FASHIONABLE. As a child, Glenda learned to get by with the minimum of things most of us take for granted. As an adult therefore, she had a greater appreciation for nice clothes, dressing up and looking as good as possible. She was fashionable! She loved clothes. She loved shoes. She loved handbags. She loved jewelry. She loved to get her hair fixed and get her nails done. She loved to shop for these things too. When they were together, she and my wife loved to go shopping together. At home in later years, she loved to buy things off of HSN, the Home Shopping Network on television. She wanted to be satisfied with her appearance and wanted Herb to be pleased with how she looked too. Glenda was fashionable.
Finally, Glenda Gilbert was FUNNY. Glenda had a wonderful sense of humor. She had a sharp and quick wit. She was naturally funny and could be hilarious. In their last phone call, while Glenda was still well enough to talk, she and Gaylon joked and laughed, recalling past funny experiences. Because of the many years we have known and been with them, I have more stories of her comedy than I can tell here. I want to share a few to close.
Back in 1979, the Gilberts hosted a trip to the Holy Land and we joined them. When our bus stopped in Samaria at Jacob’s Well, several ladies wanted to use the rest room. Hostess Glenda said, “Follow me ladies. I have been here before and I will show you the way.” At that, Glenda confidently lead the group from the bus to an old building. Soon, she came staggering back toward the bus, her arms held by two ladies, stopping every few feet to commence a dry heave. When she got back to her seat on the bus, she hung her head out of an open window to breathe fresh air. Finally, she looked around at us all and said, “I grew up on a farm. I have been in the barn yard and thought I smelled every odor in the world, but I have never smelled a smell like that in my entire life!”
On a trip to Hawaii with them a few years later, we waited for them in the hall outside their room. When they came out, they were just finishing a discussion. Then Glenda said, “I knew I married Mr. Right, but I didn’t know his middle name was, Always!” Herb, with an amused smile retorted, “No. It just seems that way.”
A few years ago, on another trip with the Gilberts, Glenda and Gaylon were shopping in a Mall. It was the middle of the afternoon and Glenda said, “Gaylon look. There’s the Cinnabon Store. Let’s go get one.” Gaylon said, “No Glenda! You are diabetic. You are not supposed to eat Cinnabon.” Glenda replied, “Some Cinnabon won’t hurt me.” Gaylon said, “Ok. Maybe we could split one.” Glenda replied, “No. I want a whole Cinnabon.” Giggling and grinning, making their way into the store, Glenda said, “If it kills me, at least I will go to heaven with Cinnabon between my teeth!”
Glenda Gilbert – Four words: Faith, Faithful, Fashion and Funny. In 1 Corinthians 13:12, the Bible says, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
Gaylon and I look forward to seeing her again, maybe soon. She won’t be hard to find in heaven. She will be the one with the fashionable white robe, handbag and shoes, a bright smile, a twinkle in her eye and just maybe some Cinnabon between her teeth.