Gilbert M Gunderson

Gilbert Melvin Gunderson was born on August 13, 1928 in Bijou Hills South Dakota to Perry and Edna Gunderson and was the little brother to his sister Florence. During the Depression, Perry took jobs running gas stations and farming, so much of Gil’s youth was spent moving between Bijou Hills, Sioux Falls, and Omaha. After Florence graduated from Benson High School, Gil finished 8th grade at a one-room school near Fort Calhoun, Ne. Around 1941, the Gunderson clan moved back to Chamberlain, South Dakota. Gil was a bright student and skipped several grades during all of the moves. Perry started farming outside of Chamberlain and Gil lived in Chamberlain during the school year. Gil worked at a diner, a hardware store, and the Chamberlain Register newspaper. Every summer he would go back to the farm and help his dad farm with a couple teams of horses. During this time Gil collected arrowheads when they plowed in the spring and rattlesnake tails from the snakes he killed when the team of horses spooked them. In 1945, when he was only 16, Gil graduated from Chamberlain High School. He liked to tell about printing his own diploma from high school on the Register printing press. Gil excelled at sports and was offered a scholarship to Yankton College to play football. At Yankton he met lifelong friends Jim Anderson and Merv Lindsay. Gil was injured in the first game and his college football career ended abruptly. However, Yankton allowed him to complete his freshman year of college. In the summer of 1946, Perry offered Gil the opportunity to farm with him, but Gil had his fill of farming with horses and instead, decided to join the Army to get the GI Bill, so he could finish college.
Gil was trained as a mortar squad leader and spent the fall of 1946 riding a troop ship across the rough, stormy North Pacific on the way to Japan. He spent 1947 and part of 1948 in Japan marching and training all day, and sleeping in wet muddy tents at night. Gil remarked the best time he spent in Japan was when his platoon got to sleep in horse stables on an old Japanese Army facility located at the base of Mount Fuji, because it was finally a dry place to sleep. Gil was proud that every time his platoon trained with live ordinance, his platoon sergeant made sure Gil was the soldier who did it. Gil got to throw grenades, shoot machine guns, fire bazookas, and launch many mortar rounds.
Gil got out of the Army in 1948 and started school on the GI Bill at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. He loved working with numbers and decided accounting was his future. He joined the Beta Sigma Psi fraternity where Gil met many more lifelong friends. In 1949, Gil also met Marilyn, the little sister of two fraternity brothers. Gil and Marilyn got married August 6th 1950 at Peace Lutheran Church outside of Plymouth, Nebraska. In 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, and Gil knew he would get called back into the military. In order to avoid being sent to the front lines, he joined the Nebraska Air National Guard and was quickly activated into the Air Force. Gil was stationed at Dow Air Force base in Bangor Maine, so he and Marilyn moved to Maine to start their life adventure together. Gil was assigned as Air Police and found a love of law. He spent his time guarding Air Force bases in Maine and Louisiana, and training new recruits as Air Police. He rolled back from active duty to Air National Guard in 1952 and entered law school at the University of Nebraska. Gil left the Air Guard in 1955 and was always proud of the fact that he had started in the Army as a buck private and got discharged from the Air National Guard as a 2nd Lieutenant.
In 1955, Gil graduated from law school and was admitted to the Nebraska Bar. Gil and Marilyn moved to Ralston, and Gil started a private law practice in Omaha. 1958 saw the construction of a new home on 82nd and Castelar St. in Omaha. At the time, this was the west edge of Omaha and they were surrounded by corn fields.
Gil and Marilyn adopted their daughter Amy, born in 1959, and son Peter, born in 1961. Gil decided private law practice wasn’t for him and in 1960 joined the legal office at Northern Natural Gas. 1962 saw the addition of another member of the family. Nephew Bill Strateman came to live with Gil and Marilyn. Gil and Marilyn bought an 80 acre farm south of Gretna, Nebraska in 1965. Gil and Marilyn turned the old farmhouse into a livable home and lovingly raised their family on the farm.
Gil loved taking care of his farm, raising cattle, fishing with Marilyn, hunting with friends, and wood-working. Gil was an active member of the community and enjoyed coaching little league baseball and cheering on the local sports teams. Gil retired from Northern Natural Gas in 1984 and started building solid oak furniture and making artistic, decorative, wooden bowls. Gil and Marilyn enjoyed traveling anywhere the fish were biting and spending time with their four grandchildren. In 2001, Gil and Marilyn moved from the farm to a house in Gretna, but Gil always stayed actively involved in the farm and cattle.
After a 20-year battle with prostate cancer, Gilbert Gunderson passed away Sunday, May 12th. He was a great husband, father, grandfather, and friend to everybody. He was 90 years old and lived a fulfilling life. He passed quietly and peacefully in his sleep surrounded by family.

Visitation Thursday 5-7 PM Roeder Mortuary. 11719 Standing Stone Gretna, NE. Funeral Service Friday (5/17/19) 10:00 AM at Resurrection Lutheran Church 153 S. McKenna Ave. Gretna, NE. Memorials to Resurrection Lutheran Church Endowment Fund or Charity of your choice.  

Roeder Mortuary 11710 Standing Stone – Gretna, NE – 402-332-0090www.RoederMortuary.com