Max John Gilbert

Max John Gilbert passed peacefully of natural causes on September 29th, 2023 surrounded by his family. Max was born August 12, 1933 and had recently celebrated his 90th birthday at his daughter Cindy’s place on Sand Lake with a group of family and friends. The party included a guitar player who strummed out many of Max’s favorite songs while Max sang most of the lyrics from memory!

Max was born in St. Cloud MN to Max Vernon Gilbert and Leona Elizabeth Gilbert (Plantenberg). Max was the second of four children in the Gilbert family. He shares the same birthdate with his older sister Donna and was the “Big Brother” to Eileen and Sharon. Max graduated in 1951 from Cathedral High School in St. Cloud where he won the boxing championship for his weight class as a senior after making it to the finals the previous two years!

After high school Max moved to the “Cities” and completed a technical college degree in design/drafting and started work at Northern States Power (NSP now XCEL Energy) at the young age of 20. Max’s career at NSP spanned 35+ years where he designed power transmission lines and later moved into a Customer Service Specialist role working directly with NSP’s customers to connect new construction to the electric grid. Max had a great many friends at NSP in both the engineering/design area and the installation crews (linemen). Max loved to strap on his climbing spikes outside of work and used his NSP background to set countless yard light poles for family and friends. Max retired from NSP in 1989 and after MC’ing most of the retirements for his co-workers, he MC’d his own retirement party. As we all know, he loved the microphone! After retiring from NSP Max continued working in various positions including a meter reader for Crow Wing Power, and elected positions on the Woodrow Township Board of Commissioners. He would say to us that his meter reading job was “getting paid to grouse hunt”.

Though his career was important, Max’s life passion was his family and friends. Upon moving to the cities, Max met his future bride and lifelong love/honey/sweetie Sally Brinkman. Sally is also from St. Cloud and graduated Cathedral High School one year behind Max and thus they had an immediate connection. One of Max and Sally’s early dates was swimming at the granite quarries in St. Cloud where Max wowed Sally with his cliff diving and ability to hold his breath underwater, and Sally equally wowed Max, as he often said, “with her amazing beauty, especially in her 1950’s swimsuit!”

Max and Sally were married in St. Cloud on June 2nd, 1956 and began an incredible life together. They had five children from 1956 to 1968. After living in various homes around the Twin Cities they bought a house on Violet Ave in Brooklyn Center in late 1963 where they lived and raised the family for over 27 years. Max’s parents had property on Webb lake and the family spent many memorable summer days at the lake with the extended Gilbert family (Jaegers, Huiras, Althaus) and friends. Max studied in the evenings and obtained his Real Estate License in 1975. He worked as a part-time agent for Woodrow Realty, focusing on lakeshore listings in Cass County, MN. He was approached to list a property on Sand Lake owned by Charles Sandtrock. Max called Sally that night and said, “We need to look at this place!” They immediately decided to purchase the cabin on 10 acres, starting a new family tradition of building amazing memories at Sand Lake! Later that summer a little white dog named “Ernie” adopted the Gilbert family and became the Gilbert’s beloved family pet for 16 years.

Max loved to share both lake places (Webb and Sand) with family and friends and started an annual tradition of “get togethers” that included his lifelong friends Jerry Larson, John Wendt, and Jim Justin along with their families. Max would entertain all by playing guitar around the campfires and singing Johnny Cash. Max would make up his own lyrics to current popular songs usually poking off-color jokes at attendees to the great amusement of all. Max had an amazing singing voice and was the life of many parties and good times at the lake places.

In 1985 Max and Sally took a financial risk by purchasing a large plot of land/lakeshore on the South end of Sand Lake. Max and Sally had a vision that these lake properties could someday be transferred to family, following the tradition started by Max’s father on Webb Lake. This vision has turned into reality and Max & Sally were eventually surrounded by all of their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren at both the Webb Lake and Sand Lake properties. Our families are forever grateful to Max and Sally for this vision and generosity – what an amazing legacy they created!

In 1989 Max and Sally’s Sand Lake Cabin was moved to Webb Lake on his Sister Eileen’s property, creating room for their dream home. With Max video-taping all stages, they built the new house and “Paul Bunyan” pole barn and moved full time to Sand Lake in 1990. This set the stage for over 33 years of retirement memories, forging new friendships with the Sand Lake neighbors and surrounding community. Max and Sally’s love of the outdoors has been passed down to their family creating lifelong bonds with hunting, fishing, scuba diving, tree planting, tree cutting and many other cherished activities.

Max is preceded in death by his parents, brother-in-law Bob Jaeger and grandson Joshua Gill who shared Max and Donna’s birthdate of August 12th. Max's memories will be forever kept by his family including wife Sally, sisters Donna Jaeger, Eileen Gilbert, Sharon (Don) Althaus. Children Charlie (Jody) Gilbert, Susan Gill, Cindy (Craig) Peppe, Linda (Dan) Thomas, Danny (Sue) Gilbert. Grandchildren Nick (Kari) Gilbert, Lonnie (Heidi) Gilbert, Amber Gill, Hank (Katja) Peppe, Madolyn Zeleny, Neil (Angie) Thomas, Kyle Thomas, Ryan Thomas, Luke (Beth) Gilbert, Sara Gilbert. Great Grandchildren Abigail Rose Gilbert, Jayleigh Renae Nanez, Lennox Maximus Gilbert, Layton Wesley Gilbert, Lovey Presley Gilbert, Maci Rose Peppe, Chelsea Renee Zeleny, Brantley Gilbert Zeleny, Layla Luu Thomas, Decker Daniel Thomas, Maverick Max Thomas, and 'baby on the way' Thomas.

Max was a long contributor to the Alzheimer’s association and local food shelves among many other charities. Please consider donating to these important causes in lieu of any gifts or flowers to honor Max’s memory.

A celebration of Max’s life is planned for October 28th from 1:30pm to 4:00pm at the Backus American Legion where Max and Sally loved to bring their family to attend the annual deer hunter’s dinner.

Backus American Legion

426 Wren Trail NW

Backus Mn, 56435