Gene was born in Springfield Massachusetts. At age four, his parents moved out to California, where he grew up in El Cajon, til he was 14 years old, when they moved to San Jose. His first job was working at Frontier Village, a local amusement theme park, and ever after, he often would wear his trademark cowboy hats and western belt buckles. In 1973 he met and married Merrilee Painter. They had two sons together, Eugene John Gilbert Jr. and Patrick Henry Gilbert. They later divorced. He worked many years for a convenience store chain, then as a warehouseman for Fotomat, and later came full circle to his last job as an amusement park ride operator for Great America in San Jose. after retirement due to health issues, he lived in a senior complex in Gilroy, CA. He attended the Methodist Church there. His passion and avocation was Santa Clara County history, and he wrote a number of books about the area and volunteered with the History Museum at Kelly Park in San Jose for a number of years. His interests were many and varied, as were his collections, old books, postcards and covers, philately, gems and minerals collected largely from the New Almaden Mine, and even a pair of gloves made out of bear claws made by his great uncle who was a Montana stage coach driver. But the collections all related to his first love: history.
Gene was born in Springfield Massachusetts. At age four, his parents moved out to California, where he grew up in El Cajon, til he was 14 years old, when they moved to San Jose. His first job was working at Frontier Village, a local amusement theme park, and ever after, he often would wear his trademark cowboy hats and western belt buckles. In 1973 he met and married Merrilee Painter. They had two sons together, Eugene John Gilbert Jr. and Patrick Henry Gilbert. They later divorced. He worked many years for a convenience store chain, then as a warehouseman for Fotomat, and later came full circle to his last job as an amusement park ride operator for Great America in San Jose. after retirement due to health issues, he lived in a senior complex in Gilroy, CA. He attended the Methodist Church there. His passion and avocation was Santa Clara County history, and he wrote a number of books about the area and volunteered with the History Museum at Kelly Park in San Jose for a number of years. His interests were many and varied, as were his collections, old books, postcards and covers, philately, gems and minerals collected largely from the New Almaden Mine, and even a pair of gloves made out of bear claws made by his great uncle who was a Montana stage coach driver. But the collections all related to his first love: history.
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