William F. Gilbrook passed away on April 9 2012 at Halifax Medical Center Daytona Beach at the age of 89. At the time of his death he was living at the Emory Bennett Veterans Nursing Home Daytona Beach Florida. A Graveside Service will be held Monday April 16 2012 at 2:00 p.m. at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell Florida.
William was born in Boston MA on July 2 1922 one of seven brothers in the family headed by his mother Mary and his father John a City of Boston fireman. A child of the Depression William left home at age 16 to join the Civilian Conservation Corps which soon found him working on projects in the forests of Colorado. In 1940 at age 18 he joined the United States Marine Corps which was his career for the next 20 years. He was stationed in Puerto Rico when he heard the news of Pearl Harbor. Soon thereafter he was attached to the Second Marine Division and fighting in the hotly contested battles waged by the Marines in the western Pacific including the assault on Iwo Jima where he served as a demolition expert.
After the war he returned to the States. One day as part of the Marine security attachment for Bethesda Naval Hospital he led a team in search of an escaped psychiatric patient. During the hunt he encountered a young Navy WAVE Virginia Marie Lee who was to become the love of his life. William and Virginia were married on September 13 1947 in Boston. Thereafter they traveled throughout the USA as William was stationed at various posts including Camp Lejeune San Francisco and San Diego. In 1950 she watched him leave for combat in Korea and he returned in 1952. In 1957 Virginia accompanied Master Sergeant Gilbrook to the Naval Air Station in Port Lyautey (now Kenitra) in Morocco north Africa where their first son Michael was born. The young family moved to Mayport Florida when First Sergeant Gilbrook was ordered to join USS SARATOGA as the senior NCO of the Marine detachment on board the new aircraft carrier. William's second son Mark was born at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station Hospital while he was at sea. Following SARATOGA's cruise with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean William retired from the US Marine Corps and relocated his family to Orlando Florida.
Following detachment from military service William worked several civilian jobs including commercial artist and security guard before being hired by military contractor Martin-Marietta (now Lockheed-Martin) as a missile technician on the FLAME testing range off of Sand Lake Road. He worked at Martin until 1969 when he was laid off as part of a workforce reduction following the cancellation of the Sprint anti-ballistic missile program. After a family trip to Boston William soon found work as the Sextant of Cemeteries for the City of Winter Park. He made a number of improvements to procedures at the City's cemeteries and was most proud of the cleanup and restoration of Pineywood Cemetery the historically neglected African-American cemetery that had fallen into disrepair. Two years later he was appointed as the City's Superintendent of Sanitation where he managed the solid waste management program. Again he put his military organizational skills to use to modernize and improve the City's solid waste program. Under his leadership Winter Park was the first city in Florida to implement curb-side trash pickup which reduced costs as well as injuries to City employees. He retired from City employment in 1983.
William was always an adventurer at heart and enjoyed boating and scuba diving. He was rated as Pistol Expert in the Marines and he retained his shooting skills until late in life when he was routinely winning pistol competitions in Master tournaments at his local shooting range. In 1995 he and Virginia moved to Lady Lake and enjoyed retirement until 2010 when the health effects of a stroke and increasing dementia required that he be moved to an Assisted Living Facility and soon thereafter the Veterans Nursing Home in Daytona Beach. He died from the combined effects of kidney failure and congestive heart failure after a short hospital stay. William is survived by his wife Virginia and his two sons Michael (Orlando FL) and Mark (Osan Korea).

Condolences may be shared with the family at www.lohmanfuneralhomes.com Arrangements are under the careful direction of Lohman Funeral Home Ormond.