Funeral service for James M. Gilbert Jr., 62, of Jeffersonville, will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, at E.M. Coots’ Sons Funeral Home, Jeffersonville, with burial in Walnut Ridge Cemetery. He died Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013 at the VA Hospital in Louisville.
He was born June 21, 1950 to James M. Gilbert Sr. and the late Betty L. Gilbert. When his father returned to active duty in the Navy in 1966, Jim Jr. accompanied his parents while his father served an additional 20 years in the U.S. Navy. Jim Jr. attended high school in Jeffersonville, Adak, Ark., and Port Hueneme, Calif. Upon graduation from Port Hueneme he was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. where he graduated in June, 1972. His initial assignment as an Ensign in the Navy was on the USS Henderson DD 785, which deployed to the South Pacific where Jim Jr. saw action in Vietnam in 1972 and 1973. He was selected to attend Navy flight training as a Radar Intelligent Office (RIO) flying in the Navy’s F-4 Phantom. After deployment aboard the USS America CVA 66, he was selected to attend the Navy’s “TOP GUN” course for RIO’s. Graduating at the top of his class at Top Gun, he was selected to participate in the course for training to become a RIO in the Navy’s F-14 Tomcat aircraft. Completing this training in 1975, he then deployed for a tour operating from the USS Enterprise CVN 65. He completed a deployment in the Atlantic ocean and Mediterranean sea. Jim had 200 “traps” aboard the two carriers in which he was deployed.
Jim left active service in 1979 and remained in the Naval Air Reserve where he once again flew in the F-4 Phantom aircraft operating out of the Dallas, Texas area.
He was employed by Battlespace Flight Services, LLC. in Arlington, Va., before moving back to Jeffersonville in May 2012. Because of a deteriorating lung condition resulting from exposure to beryllium fumes in a naval aircraft incident, he was forced to take early retirement from his civilian occupation as Director, Business Development with Battlespace Flight Services in April 2012.
He is survived by his wife, Gail Bruce Gilbert; sons, Jason Robert Gilbert and his wife, Kristi Baker, of Ft. Thomas, Ky., and Jeffrey Alexander and wife, Danielle, of Kettering, Ohio.; stepdaughter, Staci M. Nole-Wilson and husband, Aaron Wilson, of Sellersburg; grandchildren, Simon Robert Gilbert, Isabella Marie Gilbert, Morgan Kelly and Riley Gail Wilson; father, James M. Gilbert Sr.; stepmother, Frances L. Gilbert; previous wife, Joelle Gilbert.
He was preceded in death by his mother, Betty L. Gilbert, and his brother, John R. Gilbert.
Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. on Friday, at the funeral home.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the American Lung Association or Tailhook Education Foundation.
Obituaries
January 30, 2013
James M. Gilbert Jr.
62; of Jeffersonville
- Obituaries
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- Darlene Ann Edmonds, 79; of New Albany
- Alma May Spillman, 83; of Hanover
- Elden Charles Funk Lt. Col. (Ret.) USAF, 92; formerly of New Albany
- Sharon M. Caton Lewis, 59; of Jeffersonville
- Mungo W. ‘Mac’ McClure, 89; of New Albany
- May 21, 2013
- Timothy Bailey ‘Tim’ Teives , 60; of New Albany
- Joyce Herr Simmons , 64; of St. Augustine, Fla.
- Mary Jane Leist , 85; of Clarksville
- Edwin B. “Buddy” Kelmel , 94; of Sellersburg
- Edward Dallas Ehalt, 87; of Georgetown
- Raymond Dale Dunn, 69; of Jeffersonville
- May 20, 2013
- Thomas J. ‘Tater’ Banet, 86; of New Albany
- Robin T. Cobb, 49; of Marengo
- Georgia Romance Cole, 89; of Leavenworth
- Barbara M. Conrad, 67; of Corydon
- Gary Wayne Dorman, 55; of New Albany
- Roger Wayne Fraim, 45; of Tell City
- Charles August Friedel Jr., 84; of New Albany
- Steven Ray Hefler, 50; of New Albany
- Delmer ‘Hollin’ Hickerson, 85; of Jeffersonville
