Mickey Gilbert: My Grandmother's Valuable Life

My grandmother, Mickey Gilbert, is the daughter of Italian immigrants, Clemente Saulino and Anna Moccia, who married in Italy and moved to a small mining town called Lynch, Kentucky in 1928, the year before my grandmother was born. Her family moved to an apartment in Cumberland, Kentucky where Clemente started a dry-cleaning business. Grandma's sister, Berenice, was born in 1931 and then her mother had a child every five years for 15 years, adding Joanne, Joe, and Tom to the family. Her family was religious and attended church every Sunday and holy day. Grandma went to a Catholic boarding school called St. Camillus Academy in Corbin, Kentucky from third grade through high school, spending holidays and summer vacations at home in Cumberland. She graduated in 1946 and attended Villa Madonna College in Covington, Kentucky that fall. She lived with three girls \u2014 Mary Catherine, Sara Lou, and Eulalie \u2014 at St. Joseph Heights, which was run by nuns. She spent a good amount of her holidays at Mary Catherine "Juggie's" home in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky which was closer than her own home in Cumberland. That is where she met my grandpa, Colly Gilbert. She graduated from Villa Madonna in 1950 with a B.A. in history and a secondary education teaching certificate. She married Allen Carlton "Colly" Gilbert, the youngest of seven children and a World War II veteran, in 1951 and they moved to Phoenix, Arizona where they had seven children: Anne, Carlton, Kelly, Monica, Marydith, Eileen (my mother), and Mark. Unfortunately, Colly lost a battle with kidney cancer in 1971 when their youngest child, Mark, was only ten years old. Grandma raised their children on her own after that and never remarried. She kept busy even after her children moved out by taking up gardening, knitting, and volunteering. She also spent time playing the piano and reading books. All of her children married, and all had at least one child except Carlton. Grandma has thirteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren who all adore her. Anne, Carlton, Kelly, Monica, Marydith, and Mark eventually settled in different cities or states. My mother, Eileen, was the only one that stayed in Phoenix. She actually bought the house that her dad had built \u2014 the house that she grew up in \u2014 from my grandmother in 1992, and my grandmother moved to a patio home at Arcadia Green, less than a mile away. My grandma is an inspiration to our family. She taught us all the importance of enjoying the simple things in life and doing what we can for people. The values that she has passed on to us and the activities that she has inspired us to love make us healthier and happier people. Her parents instilled in her a love of family, friends, and life that she passed on to her children, and her children passed on to their children. Our family is close because of her \u2014 she is our lifeline. Her legacy is the tight bonds our family has woven.