Gilbert L. Apple Jr.

Gilbert L. Apple, Jr. passed away on December 25th at Gentry Park Memory Care. He was born on March 4th, 1936, at 317 S. Euclid Avenue, in Bloomington, Indiana. He was the son of Gilbert ("Red") L. Apple, Sr. & Wanda Pearl (Underwood) Apple. Gilbert was raised by his grandparents, Thomas Hendricks Underwood and Mabel Katherine (Skimmerhorn) Underwood, since he was 13-all preceded him in death. Gilbert was also preceded in death by his wife, Sandra E. (Sylvester) Apple, and brother Robert Apple.
Gilbert is survived by his daughter Lori (John) McLane, son Michael Apple, Sandy's two sons Rick and Robert Ferguson, 10 grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren.
Gilbert graduated from Bloomington High School in 1954 with a football scholarship to the University of Arizona; he was unable to finish for financial reasons. He then joined the US Army and served for 4 years, where he scored the highest score recorded on testing. This allowed him to train military command ranks. After completing his service, he married and moved to Lompoc, CA, where he worked for Martin Company in the missile launching room on the Titan II Missile as an engineer at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Force Base, CA. Gilbert was considered a mathematical genius, which provided other opportunities at Kennedy Space Center (Cape Canaveral, FL) and Apple Computing (CA). His real love was for RCA. "Gib" worked through the ranks to become Plant Manager, where he had a love for the company and all its employees for over 3 decades. He retired from RCA/Thompson when plans were made to move operations. Gilbert co-authored a book with Alexandra Lynch, "The RCA Bloomington Plant: An Illustrated History" in 2020. He was known as the "unofficial" historian of all things RCA in Bloomington by Bizvoice Magazine.
In the early years, Gilbert enjoyed coaching football for the Bloomington Boys Club youth league. His Chiefs were well-coached and won a championship in 1976 with his son as quarterback.
Gilbert was an avid golfer after retirement, with multiple holes-in-one. He enjoyed his family and friends and was always excited about gift-giving in the most unique ways. Not to mention him and Sandy singing "Happy Birthday" via phone with less than operatic voices! He was loved by his family and will be extremely missed.
Visitation will be held at Allen Funeral Home (4155 S. Old State Road 37, Bloomington, IN. 47401) on Saturday, January 4, 2025 from 10 am to 12 pm. The funeral will be held at noon at the funeral home. Burial will follow at Rose Hill Cemetery with military rites provided by Monroe County Honor Guard.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Bloomington Boys & Girls Club.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Allen Funeral Home in Bloomington. Online condolences may be shared with his family at www.allencares.com