Margaret Mary Gilbert

Margaret Mary Gilbert, 91, resident of Williamsburg and formerly of Kailua, Hawaii, died Monday, October 6, 2014. Margaret was born on February 12, 1923 in Warwick, Australia. She was preceded in death by her parents, Vincent and Anne Quinlan Smith, older sister, Frances Smith Edmond, and husband, Jack Darwin Gilbert. She is survived by her children, Gary D. Gilbert, Jacqueline Anne Van Hook, and Lee Frances Clarkin, and by her eight grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

As a young woman, Margaret enjoyed travel and adventure. At the age of 20, she secured a secretarial position in the Philippines with the U.S. Government. There, she met her husband, Jack, who she supported as a military wife through his 21-year career as an U.S. Air Force pilot. In the Air Force, they travelled and formed many lasting friendships. They ultimately settled in Hawaii. While Jack passed in 1981, Margaret continued to live in the Islands for another 30 years.

Margaret loved living in Hawaii, but also enjoyed traveling, especially overseas. Margaret was also fascinated with genealogical research and devoted a considerable amount of time and energy to researching the Gilbert family line. She also researched her own Smith family line with the help of relatives in Australia and a trip to Ireland.

As an avid reader, Margaret bought countless novels and then shared her favorites with anyone with a similar interest. She was also an ardent letter writer. In her lifetime, she wrote thousands of letters to family and friends that were often stuffed with newspaper clippings.

Margaret's creativity was expressed through Japanese flower arranging with Ikebana International both in Japan and in Hawaii. She was a Master Teacher from the Sogetsu School and often created arrangements for Washington Place, the Hawaii governor's residence. As a dedicated Red Cross volunteer, she shared this joy for flower arranging at Tripler Army Medical Center by making arrangements for hospital patients. Later, Margaret transitioned her Red Cross volunteering to Fisher House where she provided weekly flower arranging instructions to residents.

Health considerations made it necessary for Margaret to move to the mainland in 2011, where she took up residence in Williamsburg, Virginia to be near her children.

A Funeral Mass will be held on Friday, October 10, at 11:00 am at St. Bede Church, 3686 Ironbound Rd., Williamsburg, VA 23188. Interment is planned at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu in November. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Fisher House Foundation, 111 Rockville Pike, Suite 420 | Rockville, Maryland 20850, which provides a network of comfort homes where military and veterans’ families can stay while a loved one is receiving treatment.