Gilbert Coleman Monk

Gilbert Coleman Monk was born on July 17, 1918 in Antioch, Louisiana, the last of four children to Ellis and Sallie Monk. When Gib was still an infant, his father's lumber mill caught fire, and while helping his crew try to pull out the heavy table saw before the rafters collapsed, Ellis burst a blood vessel in his lungs. The saw mill was a complete loss, the family was bankrupted, and the town doctor diagnosed Ellis with tuberculosis, the apparent cause of his lung condition. Sallie was told that the only way to save her husband was to get him to a drier climate, so the family drove to West Texas with their few possessions to start a new life in Van Horn, a desert town of 300 people.

Although the family was desperately poor, Gib remembered his childhood as one long adventure of exploration, discovery and freedom. The desert and the mountains were his playground. He trapped coyotes, explored caves, and amassed a trove of arrowheads and other Native American artifacts that eventually ended up in the Smithsonian Institution. He had a pet eagle and a pet bobcat. He rebuilt a model T Ford and used it to explore the country side. He could speak Spanish as fluently as English. At age 12 he started working alongside his father, learning the carpenter's trade. He graduated from high school in 1936 and spent the next five years working in silver mines and helping on his father's construction projects. In 1941 he enlisted in the Army Air Corps as an airplane mechanic. After the attack on Pearl Harbor pulled America into WWII, he was sent to Veracruz, Mexico to repair and maintain the Lend-Lease aircraft that patrolled the Panama Canal, protecting it from Nazi submarines. He often said that those years in Veracruz were among the happiest and most exciting of his life.

His father Ellis died near the end of the war of a heart attack, so after he was discharged, Gib returned home to care for his mother, moving her to the larger town of Lubbock, Texas. There in 1951 he met Palma Jean Linville, a vivacious redhead with whom he eloped to Clovis, New Mexico after a six week courtship. Following the honeymoon the newlyweds drove to Houston where he met his stepson, John Hoerster, for the first time. John was only seven years old at the time and was thrilled to once again have a father in his life. Many a night they would play catch until it was too dark to see, and the two of them had many adventures together, some of which ended with Gib saying to John "let's not tell your mother about this one !"

In 1953 a son Tom was born, and in 1956 a third son Michael joined the family. In those early years Gib was a successful independent contractor building luxury homes in Houston, Texas and also studied construction management at the University of Houston. Midway through the decade he moved the family to California and then a year later to the Seattle area where he became a traveling salesman of heavy construction supplies, initially selling concrete forms for the Universal Form Clamp Company, then construction cranes for Peco, specialty scaffolding for Waco Scaffolding and Shoring, and near the end of his career, lift equipment for Ivy Hi Lift. His expertise contributed to the construction of many of the hydroelectric dams and freeway bridges in the Pacific Northwest and to many high-rise buildings in downtown Seattle. His proudest project was the Kingdome for which he designed and supplied the shoring which supported the central concrete ring to which all of the roof panels were attached in pairs. He and the crew who designed the Kingdome built it to last 1,000 years, and so it was with regret that he watched it being imploded only 25 years later. Even so, he could look at the Seattle skyline with pride.

Gib was an avid hiker and golfer, and loved to take road trips and to hunt for petrified wood. After his last son went off to college, he tried out boating, cross-country skiing and bicycling, and after retirement took Telos adult education classes at Bellevue College. He loved to work in his garden, and he spent decades refining and improving the house he and Palma Jean built in Issaquah in 1968. They lived there until late 2009 when they moved to The Gardens at Town Square in Bellevue. Gib worked on a multitude of projects for the benefit of his sons and their families, he had a remarkably close relationship with all of his grandchildren, and above all else, he enjoyed spending time with the love of his life, Palma Jean.

On June 17, 2011 we lost Gib, a great story teller and an even greater husband, dad, and grandfather. He passed away just one month shy of his 93rd birthday. He had been lucky enough to remain vigorous and active right up until he fell and hit his head three weeks earlier, but then one problem followed another, like falling dominoes, and we lost him in his sleep early that Friday morning.

Gib is survived by Palma Jean Monk, his wife of 60 years, his three sons John Hoerster (Carol) of Seattle, Thomas Monk (Lucinda) of Bainbridge Island, and Michael Monk (Angela) of Bellevue, and Kate, Ben, Brian, Scott, Tracy, and Foster, the grandchildren on whom he doted. All will miss his great stories, happy outlook, gentle spirit, wisdom, and incredible kindness. The family held a memorial service and celebration of Gib's life on June 28. Remembrances may be made to Group Health Foundation, P.O. Box 34015, Seattle, WA 98124-4015.

Arrangements under the direction of Sunset Hills Funeral Home, Bellevue, WA.