John Harry Gilson

John Harry Gilson was born on the 29th of January 1945 in Manhattan New York and remained a New Yorker all his life no matter where he lived. His parents, Grace and Harry, died six months apart when he was only 18 and set to go to college. For a time after their deaths and during his college years at CW Post, John lived in Long Beach, NY, close to the ocean. John developed a quiet and lifelong fondness for the water, enjoying just the sense of being near it, and especially walking along promenades.

As a young man, John honorably served in the United States Air Force and was assigned oversees. He was a gifted translator, preparing classified documents from Russian to English. John was stationed stateside in Alaska and in San Diego too, having fond memories of both but especially Southern California where he returned to live for a few years after retirement.

During his working years, John was a United States Postman and an IRS agent, devoting his life to government service but was ready to retire, or as he put it "finally to enjoy some TV, isn't that what retirement is for!"

John enjoyed weightlifting until his rheumatoid arthritis made it too difficult for him. He appreciated the peace of walks and of reading copious amounts of literature, especially topics in history and Jewish mysticism. He had stacks of books all over his apartment. John was also a secret writer. His stories and personal reflections contained in his many black and white notebooks, never intended for any other eye but his, where truly his heart's keeping. Every human being is a universe of mystery and life, and John filled his notebooks with his universe of longing, sadness, gentleness, and dream.

During his last twenty years of life, John lived with his brother, Fred, his sister-in-law, Caitlin, his cherished nieces Lily and Mary, and his favorite animals: the dogs-Holly, Rosie, Nola and the one and only cat, Margie. John struggled with physical and mental health issues, and his life was marked with deep-seated anxieties and fear, but during those last two decades, he had a family around him, and the closeness and security that gave him a real measure of peace. He felt much love and gave much love and kindness in return. John had his own apartment inside their house and enjoyed buying bulk packages of dog and cat treats to spoil the animals. John loved watching Seinfeld with his nieces and listening to the great American songbook with Caitlin while taking car rides along the water. Caitlin loves the singer Helen Forrest because of the CD gifts John gave her, and she well remembers the Motown drives from Bay Saint Louis to Gulfport during doctor's visits. John was so proud of Mary and Lily for graduating summa cum laude for their Baccalaureate degrees and he worried constantly about them, always texting to know when they made it to school and when they were home. John often expressed his love through concern. John and Fred could get on each other's nerves as brothers do, but their great bond was overwhelming love for Mary and Lily, and of course, affection for the family pets measured in astronomical, and potentially competitive, treat-giving.

John loved junk food, had eccentric eating habits where one food was the food until it wasn't, and he was one of those fortunate human beings who could eat and eat and still maintain his dapper and svelte figure! There were the rice and bean years, the buy-in-bulk clam sauce years, the vanilla milkshake, quarter pounder, and large fries years, there were the red baron personal round pizza years, the Nutri-Grain and chocolate bar years, the nestle ice cream crunch bar years, and then there were the Pei Wei years!

John expressed his love in unforgettable ways! He once insisted that Caitlin take him up on renting a medivac helicopter to the hospital in Brooklyn where she was a patient in early labor. He didn't trust any "Brooklyn hospitals!" Mary and Lily can remember him asking "What do 12-year-old girls want for Christmas?" mumbling to himself over and over, making many lists to stick on the walls, and buying about everything google listed. Fred, Caitlin, Mary, Lily and John moved to Gozo (the smaller island in the country of Malta) for a few years over a decade ago. John loved Rundle Gardens and would sit in that park every day, twice daily, and feed the stray cat that soon became a gang of stray cats. After having fed them so well for over a year, so that they were rotund felines laying out in the Mediterranean sun, his clowder of cats became less inclined to take his food with the same rapt urgency. This worried John to no end. The only way that preoccupation abated was feeding them pâté, a smidgeon of caviar, smoked salmon and all the good stuff!

During John's last visit with his close family, he was deeply affectionate. The love he always had for his family, expressed mostly through anxieties and paralyzing fears, now poured out with such humane loveliness, as if supported by a gentler hidden grace. He touched his loved one's face, cupping it in his hands, and smiling as if he knew he was saying goodbye in the pure form of "I love you." These moments matter and will be held just as his notebooks are preserved in the caverns of mind and heart.

John's family cherishes the friendship, love, and superb care he received from Darlene and Aimee Storey. John's family would also like to recognize Ramona Fine, his compassionate and exceptional nurse, whose extraordinary care made John's final months so much better. The family is also appreciative of the whole Gentiva Hospice Care team and to the community at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary who have been praying for John.

Mr. John Gilson died peacefully in his sleep having enjoyed a wonderful home-cooked meal the night before.

John is survived by his loving family, his brother Frederick Gilson, sister-in-law Caitlin Gilson, and his beloved nieces Mary and Lily who are preparing to go to graduate school in animation. His nieces would be so happy to know their Uncle Schmoopy is watching over them-wearing his Italian t-shirts, blue jeans, and shuffling in his brown slippers-and with all his protective affection and love, encouraging them towards their goals and to appreciate both the little and remarkable things in life. John loved and appreciated his friendship with Mrs. Irina Chello, godmother of Mary and Lily, and close family friend. He considered her one of the family and she was often in his thoughts. He also cherished his time with his nephew, Michael Dwyer.

John will look forward to being welcomed into Heaven by those who preceded him-his mother, Grace, and his father, Harry, and his sister, Juanita.

Funeral services will be held privately for the family.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Catholic Charities of South Mississippi https://catholiccharitiesofsouthms.org/

For blessed are those that never stopped
standing calmly outside in the rain;
to them will come all harvests,
and their ripe fruit will be numerous.
They will outlast any end
and any kingdom whose meaning is gone;
they will rise like rested hands
when the hands of all other classes
and nations are worn.
-Rainer Maria Rilke, Book of Hours