Dear Ms. Walford,

I read the tribtues to my dear friend Sharon Gilbert. We were last together in the 1970s. I lived in Brooklyn with my parents and she came from California to go on some interviews. We were students Brooklyn College in previous years.

Sharon loved California and said she felt healthy and free there. She was enthusiastic about having a car. She loved the hard work and challenge of her freelance assignments. She had temporarily suspended her PhD research to work in the film and publishing industry.

I knew her parents briefly and her wonderful Uncle Mark. I will look forward to seeing her novels published. It is no surprise that so many friends loved her and admired her talent. The last time I saw her so many years ago she had traveled from California by train. She told me that the long tedious trip was worth it because of the beautiful American scenery.

A couple of days after she left, a man she had met on the train and spoke well of called and asked for her. She had given him our phone number and he sounded anxious to be in touch. But, Sharon and I were not in contact after that I did not know where she had gone.

Sharon was a great survivor of obstacles. Thirty years later I still see her as my Brooklyn College classmate in Professor Fitzhugh´s Shakespeare seminar. Sharon was outstanding and won a scholarship for summer study in England.

I also remember that during vacations, she was a hard-laboring typist at the law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell in New York City. Whatever she did was outstanding. We used to worry about meeting a nice husband.

Sharon made very moment count. I will feel great joy and hope to see her stories and scholarship published.

Please post this for me if you can.

Sincerely,

Harriet W. Andrade

We all still miss Sharon. One of the ways, I'm honoring her is by writing and creating new publishing opportunities. Please visit Wireless and Mobile News, my latest Web development.

Welcome to the memorial blog celebrating the talent and inspiration of Sharon Gilbert.

I learned of her death during a writer's happy hour from Susan Carrier. Needless to say, I cried most of the happy hour and the belt of deep red wine did nothing to dissolve the shock. Susan appears in the IWOSC Holiday party photograph in this blog on February 14, 2006. Susan also wrote a lovely tribute to Sharon on February 5.

Susan Carrier has now started her own blog describing her fight against cancer, http://cancerbanter.blogspot.com/.

The writing of blog appears to helping Susan focus on positive results.

Blogs come in handy for all sorts of things. Now Susan doesn't have to e-mail everyone her progress, she just blogs it.

We will all miss Sharon and her inspiring love of art and writing. Somehow, even her memorial blog has inspired another writer to blog away cancer.

Now comes the news that her father was a gifted writer and playwright. Maybe he taught her how to give those fabulous notes that she gave us.

March 15, 2007

Dear Ms. Walford,

The Nov/Dec issue of the University of North Carolina alumni magazine surfaced from a pile on my desk today, and I noted with some surprise a brief mention in the class notes of Sharon Gilbert’s death last year. I had no idea she was a Carolina alum. I knew her dad when he was living in Durham, North Carolina. We tried to track Sharon down when he died in 1989, but she was no longer at the LA address he had for her.

When I Googled her today, the memorial blog popped up, and I recognized her immediately from the painting and photo on the site, having seen pictures of her when she was a child.

At the time of his death, I don’t think she and her dad had been in touch with each other for quite awhile. The information below may be of interest to Sharon's cousins in Washington, if you wouldn't mind passing it along to them. I’m not sure it’s 100 percent accurate. And maybe they can provide further information or corrections. I post Mark’s bio each year in connection with a dramatic arts award he established in his will.

I hope you will also accept my belated condolences on the loss of your good friend.

Best wishes,

Charles Blackburn, Jr.

....................................

MARK GREGORY GILBERT

1914-1989

Mark Gregory Gilbert was born on February 5, 1914, in New York City, where he spent much of his life as a writer, editor and advertising consultant. His parents came to the U.S. from Russia by way of South America. His older sister, Flora, was born in Russia on September 13, 1906. His mother was an actress and his father an editor of trade papers in several languages that circulated among the city’s immigrants. By age 12, Mark was helping to edit the papers.

His mother inspired his love of the dramatic arts. As a child, Mark talked her into taking him with her to the Yiddish Art Theatre a few blocks from their apartment to see her perform in a melodrama involving demonic possession. What he saw so alarmed him that he rushed the stage to save his mother from the leading man...and stopped the show. He wrote about the incident many years later for Showbill (July 1984).

An alumnus of City College of New York and New York University, Gilbert received a law degree but never practiced, choosing instead to pursue a career in publishing. He served as editor of the Army & Navy Review during World War II, and went on to edit a number of trade magazines in the fields of food, fashion and film.

Well-traveled, Gilbert serendipitously participated in a revolution in the mid-1950s while on vacation in Nicaragua. He was coming out of his Managua hotel when a ragtag gang of insurgents confronted him. One of them brandished a machete, demanding in Spanish, "Are you one of us?" No fool, Mark instantly replied "Si!" and was handed the weapon. "I marched about a block with the revolutionary army," he recalled in a 1981 Charlotte News interview. "Then they turned left at the corner, and I turned right." He kept the machete as a souvenir.

As a freelance writer and contributing editor for the American Salesman, Gilbert wrote more than 200 motivational articles for sales and marketing magazines. He moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, from Florida in the mid-1970s following his second wife’s death. Local theater groups produced several of his plays. He also wrote short stories and poems, winning several awards from the Charlotte Writers Club.

In the early 1980s, Mark and his widowed sister, Flora Silverman, moved to Durham, N.C., so he could be closer to the Duke University Eye Center. An ice-skating accident in childhood had damaged his eyes, sometimes causing double vision. While in Durham, they lived for the most part in Henderson Towers Senior Center on South Duke Street.

His wife, Maria "Tutti" Gilbert, preceded him in death and is buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn. Mark died March 16, 1989, in Durham. His sister, Flora, died August 8, 1999, in Elizabethtown, N.C.

Mark made provision in his will for the creation of a dramatic arts award now presented annually through the North Carolina New Play Competition sponsored by the Greensboro Playwrights Forum. It was his hope that the Mark Gilbert Award would "perpetuate my love of the theater in all its forms and repay in some small measure the fullness of inspiration by which a stimulating interaction with gifted and dedicated colleagues has enriched my understanding of life."

………………………

A VIEW FROM THE AUDIENCE

How I stopped the show at the ripe old age of seven

by Mark G. Gilbert

SHOWBILL, July 1984

Copyright © Playbill Incorporated, 1984

In the 1920s, a genius named Maurice Schwartz established the Yiddish Art Theatre on Second Avenue in the lower East Side ghetto of New York. A gifted actor-manager and director, far ahead of his time, he offered a rare taste of culture to the huddled masses yearning to breathe free by producing and directing and usually acting in classic plays by Shakespeare, Gogol, Moliere, Ibsen and a host of lesser ethnic playwrights.

My mother, who had recently emigrated to this country from South America and Russia, felt the need for cultural self-expression. She became a bit player with Schwartz’s company; then, because of her fluency in Yiddish, Russian, Spanish and eventually English, was gradually promoted to character and supporting parts, including a role in THE DYBBUK.

Theatre and moviegoers who have thrilled to the chilly exorcism dramas may not know of Ansky’s THE DYBBUK, perhaps the first tale of demonic possession made into a full-length play. Based on old folk stories, it recounts the tragedy of a young bride who was "inhabited" by a demon at the very moment of her wedding.

This tale of a disembodied soul seeking residence in the body of an innocent girl permitted an amazing range of melodrama (complete with ceremonies, incantations, religious invocations and actual struggles of a violent physical nature) that kept people petrified in their seats. Playing the part of the mother of the condemned bride, my own mother had an arduous task to perform, arriving home each night actually drained of strength and emotionally exhausted from the psychic demands of the role.

Never having been to the theatre, my sister and I often begged her to let us see her perform, but she had always refused, claiming that it might be a distraction to have her children watching her performance. That changed one Wednesday afternoon. After a particularly grueling matinee of THE DYBBUK, she came home to rest for a few hours before the evening show. It posed no problem, since we lived only a few blocks from the theatre.

My sister was spending the night with a girlfriend and I took a chance at some childish blackmail to impress on my weary mother the justice of her taking me along to what I considered a Palace of Dreams. When she argued that the play she was in might frighten me, I countered with the claim that I was afraid to stay home alone. That carried the day and she finally agreed, telling me that I had to be very quiet all through the performance, no matter what happened onstage. After all, it was only make-believe.

The beginning scenes of the play, set in a small village in a vague area of Europe, failed to interest me much. The wedding scene, carefully depicting a traditionally Orthodox Jewish ceremony, I dismissed casually as "Girl Stuff." But when the bride acted out the instant of her "possession," with appropriate writhings, moanings and supplications, my blood chilled and I sat upright in my seat, bored no longer. The play, probably overwritten by today’s standards, mounted steadily from peak to intense peak.

Though quite frightened, I did not become truly disturbed until the high point of THE DYBBUK, the exorcism in the graveyard, where the Chief Rabbi struggles, often physically, to force the demon to leave its young victim’s body. My mother was an integral part of that violent scene, trying to still the bride’s attempts to get away by forcing her back into her chair every time she surged upward.

At one point, irritated by her continuing interference, the Chief Rabbi orders his two assistants to get the desperate mother out of the way so he can continue his exhortations in relative peace. Though not a follower of the Stanislavski Method, my mother put up enough of a realistic struggle to give her stage tormentors a very hard time, which they met with additional force.

That was the point at which I made my famous theatrical debut; I reared up out of my seat and ran to the stage, screaming: "You let her go! She’s my mother, and a nice lady! Don’t you dare hurt her!"

To say that this interruption caused a sensation all its own as it affected the already raw nerves of the audience would be a rank understatement. People screamed, stood up at their seats and some even shouted their encouragement to the "brave little fellow"―me!

Frantically clawing at the edge of the stage, which was well above my head, and crying hysterically, I effectively ruined the high point of that particular performance. Realizing this, my mother finally stepped out of character and knelt down to be as close to me as possible, soothing and comforting me as well as she could from the distance between us. Within moments, a cadre of appalled ushers arrived to engulf me in their none-too-friendly clutches and carry me, still kicking and screaming, to the back of the theatre. I was ham enough to note with appreciation the applause I received from the aroused audience!

Since the great Maurice Schwartz was then occupied as the Chief Rabbi conducting the exorcism, the tongue-lashing I deservedly received was given me by Paul Muni - then acting under the name of Muni Weisenfreund - a distinction I didn’t relish until years later, when he had graduated to big stage and Hollywood roles. I remember that, although chastised, I felt no contrition. After all, I had effectively stopped the show...

# # #

This was published in the September 2006 Johnsonian News Letter and contains a holiday letter Sharon wrote to Albrecht Strauss in 1989:

27 February 2006

Dear Bob,

Sharon Gilbert, one of my all-time favorite graduate students, died suddenly and unexpectedly a few weeks ago in Los Angeles, where she had gone after taking her Ph.D. orals in English at Chapel Hill. Her hope was to set out on a career in “writing” (preferably, I believe in Hollywood) while, more or less at the same time, completing her dissertation on James Boswell’s journals. Well, I don’t really know how successful she was with the first; but there can be no question that eventually she did an outstanding job with the second. Her dissertation was superb—not only extremely per­ceptive but also (which is even more unusual!) extraordinarily well-written. All this happened a good many years ago.

The enclosed epistle may convey some of that excellence. Short though it may be, would it be of interest, do you think, to the readers of the Johnsonian News Letter? Needless to say, I’d be thrilled to see it in print—now more than ever.

With warm regards always,

Sincerely yours,

ALBRECHT STRAUSS

Herewith is the letter, which indeed readers of this journal will find both interesting and delightful.

December 26, 1989

Dear Dr. Strauss,

Hope your family will have a healthy, happy new year with none of the rude shocks and scares of the previous one!

Just wanted you to know I joined the Southern California Johnson Society. They had a huge elegant dinner. First thing you know, the speaker of the evening gave a lecture attacking Boswell!!!

ANYWAY—the lecture was everything you taught me a scholarly paper should not be. Not only did the guy give unsubstantiated arguments, he never pre-considered any possible objections to his thesis. The lecture basically said that when Boswell claimed he was reproducing Johnson’s conversation, he couldn’t possibly have done so because no writer can do that. So Boswell was fibbing. Boswell explained his ability by saying he got into the “Johnsonian ether,” and the lecturer questioned what that might be, and referred to it snidely.

After the lecture I decided not to confront the lecturer, which would have been like stepping on a homeless person. I instead went for Donald Greene!!! Of course I know his fame but had never met him before; however, he had been pointed out to me by a lot of people at the lecture as “someone who doesn’t like Boswell very much.” I began telling him my objections to the lecture. My basic proof was the movies of John Wayne! (“We are talking about the real John Wayne,” said Professor Greene elegantly, meaning John Wayne, not John Wain - happy coincidence!) After somehow digressing into movies in which John Wayne was un-John Wayne-like (Professor Greene mentioned Red River; I mentioned The Searchers), we eventually got back to the point. I informed Dr. Greene that when John Wayne was alive, two people would write all his scripts. First was the scriptwriter, a person who changed from script to script. Then there was the “John Wayne specialist,” the one man who was able to change all of John Wayne’s dialogue so that the character spoke just like John Wayne was supposed to speak. Did this man not enter the “Waynian ether”? Therefore, even Hollywood philosophically recognized—that means, they actually paid money for the talent to reproduce conversational style accurately.

I then went on to the formal style of Johnson’s hundreds (or thousands?) of personal letters, none of which were referred to in the lecture, and the fact that Johnson might have spoken more formally to Boswell because Boswell needed and expected him to. Dr. Greene was very, very impressed by my arguments. He kept saying, over and over, “That’s a good point, that’s excellent!” To everyone’s amazement, including mine, he kept questioning me for about 20 minutes. Everybody stood around us in a circle, terribly impressed that Dr. Greene was impressed with me, whoever I was.

Then, at the end—if I understood him correctly—he said he hadn’t changed his mind at all!

“EVEN POTTLE,” he said, doubted Boswell’s claims. I had to agree that Pottle was God himself it’s hard to argue against Pottle.

But I was of course totally bowled over by Dr. Greene’s incredibly vast erudition.

At any rate—just want you to know—I am ready to defend Boswell anywhere—any time—and now you see—to anyone!

Have a happy holiday.

Love,

SHAR.

Sharon's helping me even after she's gone.

I just referred to an an e-mail Sharon sent me about technical writing. She was right and helpful. She's helping me still now from the other side.

I met with Flo yesterday and she will be sending me photos of Sharon's birthday after death party.

In the meantime here's the song I wrote for Sharon:

Goodbye Sharon (Sung to the tune of Hello Dolly)

Goodbye Sharon
Tootaloo Sharon
We’re sorry to see you
Leave your writing throng.

You were our friend, Sharon
‘Til the very end, Sharon
You were still proofing and still spoofing
And still writing strong.

We feel ourselves praying
And our hearts saying
How could all of your kind help ever end?

Oh holy cow, writers!
Who’s gonna’ fix our scripts now, writers?
Sharon, we’ll miss your editing,
Sharon, we’ll miss your inspiring,
Sharon, we’ll miss you being our friend.

Flo Selfman
P.O. Box 641831
Los Angeles, CA 90064
323.653.4555
floself@aol.com

June 16, 2006

TO: Crossroads School, Santa Monica, California

RE: Donation of piano and vocal music, and books about composers

I am a public relations consultant and president of Independent Writers of Southern California (www.iwosc.org), a nonprofit service and support organization for independent writers in the region. One of our members, Sharon Gilbert, died in late January 2006 at age 57, after a brief illness. At the time, she resided in a house in Frazier Park, Calif., that she purchased in 2005.

Sharon was IWOSC’s board secretary at the time of her passing. In addition, she was a lifelong pianist and singer (soprano). She attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and subsequently obtained her Ph.D. Her dissertation was on Boswell.

Well before Sharon joined IWOSC, I had known her for many years. We actually met at a singles event for classical music lovers, given by a piano teacher in the Valley. We “jammed” on the piano, playing music for four hands, and became friends after that, sharing a great love for music and literature. We lost contact for several years, then resumed our friendship when Sharon joined IWOSC. At the time of her death, she was working at 20th Century Fox as a technical writer, commuting from Frazier Park. She worked at several long-term “temporary” tech writing jobs in Northern and Southern California, teaching herself the computer programs necessary to land the positions. She also wrote essays and screenplays. She was very happy during the last few years of her life.

In general, she was an upbeat person, always ready to help. In fact, I proposed to my IWOSC board that we create a new annual award in her honor, which we will present at our annual summer party in August. It will be called “The Spirit of Sharon” Award and will be given posthumously to Sharon at that time, in recognition of her exemplary volunteer service to the organization.

Sharon had very little family when she died. Three first cousins were located in Washington State, and one of them is now the administrator of her estate. Since I am the person who most closely shared her love of music, I decided, with her cousin Shana’s permission, to find a suitable place to donate her music and her music books. I am delighted that Crossroads School (and New Roads School) will accept these items (nearly four large cartons of material) and I know Sharon would be thrilled that her music will live on and be played and sung by young people, many of whom will go on to professional careers.

I am also giving you two photographs, taken on May 27, 2006, at a luncheon I organized at the Overland Cafe in Culver City on what would have been Sharon’s 58th birthday. Present were several members of IWOSC and several members of Alameda Writers Group, another organization of which Sharon was a member. The painting in the photos shows Sharon as a young woman, painted by her mother. The white bust on the table is of her favorite composer, Chopin. I removed the bust from her house and have kept it for myself.

If you would like to know more about this remarkable individual, please refer to the blog that her friend Lynn Walford started upon learning of Sharon’s death. The blog address is http://sharongilbertnextlevel.blogspot.com/.

It is with great pleasure that I donate this music and these books to Crossroads School. May they bring learning and joy to many!

Warm regards,

Flo Selfman
Selfman & Others Public Relations
encl: 4 cartons of music and books

I have been trying to find Sharon for years. We were good friends in junior high and high school. I tried the internet before but had no luck. Today, I just decided to type her name in again and search--and there it was. I am near tears because I so wanted to talk to her again. We lived next door to each other in Brooklyn (Ocean Avenue) across the street from Prospect Park. Shraron played the piano so beautifully and sang like a bird. I couldn't read a note but did have a good ear, so I begged her to teach me my then-favorite song(Umbrellas of Cherbourg) We managed to produce a pretty good finished product, and to this day, I think of her when I play. Sharon was absolutely brilliant in high school (Erasmus) and there was almost no room to write under her picture in the yearbook--so many extracurricular activities. I believe that we are all here to learn--that our planet is one big schoolroom. Living by the golden rule and being of service to others is part of our goal. From the young Sharon that I knew to the Sharon you have known, I believe she has accomplished that and more. She will always be there to help and guide us all

.

Barbara Leviton
Formerly Barbara Zeitlin

Gathering on Sharon Gilbert's Birthday, May 27 in Culver City

Saturday, May 27, would have been Sharon Gilbert's birthday. If you'd like to remember her by getting together for lunch/brunch on that day, please let me know as soon as possible. We will meet at 12:30 at the Overland Cafe, 3601 Overland (north of Venice Blvd., west side of street), 310-559-9999, www.overlandcafe.com. The food is very good and the prices are reasonable. Sharon enjoyed herself there on several occasions. Plan to bring cash for your meal.

Sharon's cousin Shana from Washington State will be here joining us on that day.

If you think you can come, let me know right away so I can get an idea for the reservation. I will also be asking for a confirmation the day before.

Flo Selfman floself@aol.com
Selfman & Others PR
President, IWOSC

From Beverly Diehl, former AWG President:

Sharon reminded me of Melanie Wilkes - without the Southern accent, of course. Genuinely kind, soft-spoken, unassuming, she always found something good and encouraging to say about my (and so many others') writing, without crossing the line and becoming a flattery factory. I always enjoyed her company, and only wish I'd gotten to read more of her writing, back in the day. I was so sad to hear she had died, and hope in the next go 'round - if there is such a beastie as reincarnation - that she sticks around a lot longer.

I have finally gotten the results of the autopsy. This is something you can post on your website. It is not too good news:

I called the Coroner’s office and got the results of the autopsy on Sharon. I have not had the chance to speak with the physician who performed the actual autopsy, but spoke with one of the investigators, who read from the report. They have concluded the death was from natural causes, hypertensive cardiovascular disease and cerebral vascular disease.

Interestingly, earlier the physician had told us there was no evidence Sharon had died of a heart attack, nor that she had had an obvious stroke. Also, the fact is that Sharon did not have high blood pressure. I can only conclude that they were unable to figure out what Sharon died of. Either they didn’t look in the right places or they were unable to find evidence because decomposition and time interfered.

Having spoken with people who knew Sharon, I think she had been feeling poorly, at least off and on, for several months. If there is a lesson here, it is, perhaps, that we need to advocate for ourselves if we are not feeling good and to do our own research. I’m sure Sharon did what she could. We know she tried to get help by going to Kaiser on Friday night, but that they missed how serious it was, and she died two days later. Perhaps the real lesson here is “Carpe Diem.”

Shana Aucsmith

Sharon’s passing hit me very hard. I had been an admirer of her spirit, energy, openness and especially her generosity for a long time. She was always eager and available, thorough, businesslike, and always completely warm and friendly. She went out of her way to support those who she touched. Her personality was always cheerful, if a bit innocent, which added impact to her loss. She and I had recently become much closer due to her position on the board of IWOSC and her presence at practically every meeting that I attended given by other groups. This was one of the most sad and shocking moments for me in a long time, and I’m gratified to see the outpouring of love that has been expressed on this blog. I trust that Sharon knew this love during her life. She is missed on many levels.

Gary Young
President, Publishers Association of Los Angeles
Director of Professional Development, Independent Writers of Southern California

For many reasons, my family did not have the chance to get to know my cousin, Sharon, well. We saw her on rare occasions and knew of her mostly through her mother’s recounting of Sharon’s activities.

In truth, I did not expect to get so drawn into Sharon’s life when I flew to Kern County CA to begin the process of tying up Sharon’s life. My siblings and I were her “next of kin,” and I went out of a sense of family responsibility. When I visited Sharon’s home that she loved so much, I found many familiar things, including photos I had never seen of my Grandparents, and of her mother and my father, who were siblings. I found the items Sharon had inherited from her mother, including her mother’s oil paintings. I found stories, letters and poems written by our Grandfather, Sharon’s mother, Sharon, and my parents. I found letters I and my siblings had written, as well, all lovingly saved by Sharon’s mother. I experienced a unique link with Sharon that had not been realized in life. Our roots were the same.

In the past month, I have been twice to Sharon’s home and have been privileged to meet some of her friends and next door neighbors, who have generously extended the friendship they shared with Sharon to me. I have been gratified to read your good words on this memorial blog and I am so glad that Sharon had a life rich with her writings, many interests, and friendships. I feel I am finally getting to know my cousin through her friends and effects and am sorry we did not connect in person, earlier. We would have had fun.

I want to thank all of you for having been there to support Sharon in life and for your warm thoughts about Sharon that will forever memorialize her life. I am hoping to hear from the Coroner’s Office next week on the cause of death and will post that information here. So far, the cause is still unknown, but is “natural,” if one can call death that for someone 57 years old.

Shana Aucsmith
Bellevue WA

I have many memories of Sharon Gilbert, all of them pleasant ones. I taught her when she first came to graduate school here at North Carolina, and I directed her master's thesis on Laurence Sterne. When I knew her here, she lived her life with zest, enthusiasm, intelligence, and a cheerful heart. That may seem common enough for someone in her twenties, but it is rarer than we'd like to think. When I spoke to her again, many, many years later, it soon became evident that all these qualities were as strong as they'd ever been. The combination of great intelligence, a powerful sense of humor and a few decades of hard experience usually produces something wryly ironic at best and subacid at worst. In Sharon's case, almost miraculously, she was as fresh and open-hearted in her fifties as she had been in her twenties, and, if anything, even brighter. She was a rare person, and we cherish her memory.

Thomas A. Stumpf
Associate Professor (emeritus)
UNC-Chapel Hill

From Albrecht Strauss, Sharon Gilbert's professor at UNC:

CONCERNING SHARON GILBERT

Yes, Sharon Gilbert was a remarkable person. As so many in this moving memorial have testified, she was warm-hearted, understanding, gifted, enthusiastic -- a loving and widely beloved woman. What impressed me as much as anything about her, though, was her determination. As her dissertation director at the University of North Carolina, I saw Sharon pick up a study of James Boswell's journals a great many years after having dropped it, plunge into her pioneering critical analysis (having been lost for well over a century, these journals had only recently been recovered) with insight and relish, and wind up with an original, incisive, and beautifully written doctoral dissertation. It took extraordinary courage and will power to return to a seemingly abandoned task after so prolonged an interruption and to bring it to a dazzling conclusion. If ever there was awoman of valor . . .

Marvin Wolf, former IWOSC President, sent me this photo of Sharon at the IWOSC Holiday Party in December 2005. Sharon surrounded by her writer friends:

The last few days, I've been thinking alot about Sharon and her ability to encourage talent and creativity. Then I kept hearing a song we sang when I sang with the Immanuel Community Gospel Choir:

Now let the weeping cease,
Let no one mourn again,
For the love of God
Will bring you peace,
There is no end.

In this blog there is no end to all the good that Sharon inspired. We still feel her excitment when she heard/read our words. We can still hear her words of encouragement. We still feel her love of everything artistic. It lives on, every time we write something that enlightens and beautifies existence.

Write on!
Thank you Sharon.
Good Night and Good Luck

I'm on a deadline today for three news releases, so I won't be posting much.

People have been asking about a service. Everything is on hold for now. We will keep you posted.

Shana who has been a doll taking care of business will be out of town and she has to confer with her family on all major decisions.

In the meantime, this our virtual service to Sharon, who loved seeing things in writing more than anything else.

Good Morning,

It looks like we have most of the people notified after finding Sharon's address file. If you know people who should be notified, please direct them to this blog. Shana contacted the best friend in North Carolina and I recieved an e-mail from a reference who contacted the couple she stayed with at Christmas.

Michelle Band e-mailed, "I'm going to get in touch with the Brooklyn College Alumni Association this week since they do memorials for alumni in their magazine. Sharon always used to be interested in their news and events."

As for me, I'm going to be kind of busy this week, my car is leaking oil and I broke my tooth. I thought, what's this rock doing in my Balance Bar? Later I realized, that's no rock that's my tooth! Which leads me to the great L.A. conundrum, do I need to fix my car or my tooth first?

Lynn Walford

Sharon at a party at Flo Selfman's apartment in July 1978:

From Trish Lester, IWOSC member, Fellow Writer and Singer/Songwriter:

Sharon appeared almost out of nowhere to support my music. I can still see her shining face in the audience at Borders Book Store when I gave a performance there last summer. We were kindred souls, and spent many hours on the phone sharing creative ideas. Her mother had been a talented artist, she told me, and Sharon wanted to find some ways to share the rather large collection of paintings her mother had created and left to her (an online gallery, perhaps?). I'm shocked and saddened at her passing, and I'll miss her.

Today, I received this photo Shana took of Sharon's view above her computer.

The view that inspired the woman who inspired us all.

From Lynn Corum:

Sunday, Feb. 6
I've known Sharon for just over a year, and based on the wonderful comments from her long-time friends, I've missed out on what could have been a much longer and enriching friendship. We saw the latest Harry Potter movie together at Fox on Jan. 14 and talking afterward when I told her I was having an informal reading of two of my short plays on Jan. 17 she said she wanted to sit in. I was delighted, she came, and her criticism was truthful and spot-on. I was so impressed with her insight. Then and there I decided she would be invited to all my playreadings. How could I have known she would be gone by the coming weekend. Friends of Sharon's quality are so rare.

I received some photos of Sharon, yesterday from Flo Selfman. Here she is at the IWOSC board installation in August 2005.

Flo, Laura, Alice, Jon, Ray, Sharon and Michele.

From Susan Carrier, Past IWOSC President:

Flo Selfman used the words "generosity in spirit," and I can't think of more perfect words to describe Sharon. When I found out she was living in La Jolla a year ago, I called to recruit her for a temporary, non-writing project. At the time, she was working more than full time, but suggested that I call a mutual friend who was having trouble making ends meet. "She'd be great, but she lives on the west side of town. We need someone who lives in the San Diego area," I protested. Sharon countered, "No problem. She can sleep on my couch and eat out of my refrigerator for as long as she wants."

That was pure Sharon - if she couldn't help you, she always found someone who could, even if that meant sacrificing a couch and food. But I guess that's the difference between Sharon and most other people - I would have considered it a "sacrifice" to relinquish my couch for ! the summer, but Sharon found the prospect of helping two friends pure joy.

And it was pure joy to be around Sharon. As many have already pointed out, she was humorous, optimistic, caring and talented. I'll never forget her and will strive to be more like her.

Sharon under IWOSC umbrella at UCLA Extension Writers Fair, 9/05. Photo: Flo Selfman

From Travis Pike, Chairman and Managing Director, New Playwrights Foundation:

Life is full of broken promises. Death makes but one and keeps it. Sharon Gilbert, Secretary of IWOSC (Independent Writers of Southern California) and member of the Alameda Writers Group and the New Playwrights Foundation, is dead at age 57.

She was a brilliant pianist, a trained singer and, as many of us well know, an excellent script analyst. She had been a reader for various producers affiliated with major production companies here in Los Angeles and until recently, attended New Playwrights Foundation Workshops where she not only critiqued scripts for our members, but frequently followed up, encouraging individual writers and offering suggestions to improve their works. She will be missed.

I understand that Travis Pike said some wonderful things about Sharon at the Saturday AWG meeting.

I found an address data file and sent e-mails to the people who looked like they were friends.

We have not been able to figure out the name/address etc. of the best friend in North Carolina (Anne?) or the couple she went to visit in Northern California for Christmas 2005.

Unfortunatley, I did not find any WP files for current writing projects. If anyone knows anything about these things please let me know.

e-mail I received on Saturday:

Dear Lynn,

I am writing to you with tears rolling down my cheek as I read this email.

Please know that I am so saddened to hear of Sharon's passing. She was one of the funniest, wisest people I ever knew.

I met Sharon over twenty years ago when I was a visiting student at UCLA. When we found out that we were both from Brooklyn and went to Brooklyn college we bonded very quickly and became very good friends. I even shared an apartment with her for a while when I was in Los Angeles.

The last time I spoke to Sharon was around September 11th 2001 when she called to make sure I was ok in New York City. After that she moved around a bit and I didn't always know her whereabouts in Northern California and Washington. Only recently (via Google) I found her phone number listed on a Writer's Group in Los Angeles and was meaning to get in touch with her. Now I will always regret that I didn't sooner.

I think it is absolutely wonderful what you are doing for Sharon. She and I were both only children and I know how she valued her friends.

Please let me know if you are doing any type of memorial for Sharon that I can contribute to.

With great sadness,

Michelle Band
New York, NY

Please note: Michelle also left a comment on the previous post.
The comments need to clicked on in order to read them.

Brian Mc Carthy will be talking about Sharon today at the AWG meeting at the Glendate library.

I will be at a dance competition all day, when I come back, I will post your comments.

I spent the day with Sharon's cousin Shana at Sharon's house.

It was not a pretty sight inside the house where her body was found. I prefer to focus on the wonderful things about Sharon:

How much she loved art, music and writing.
How beautifully she sang and played the piano.
How she loved us and wanted us to succeed.

We found this beautiful painting her mother did of her:

Exterior: Frazier Park Writer's House- DAY
Shana being wonderful and taking care if business.
She is enjoying her cleaning tools and wardrobe:

The wind is beautiful and the air is clear, as demonstrated by its billowing affect on trash bags:

The house is adorable.

From Tinker Lindsay:

Flo called me yesterday with the news of Sharon's death, and I was, and am, saddened by it.
A few years ago, a small group of us IWOSCans - all female, all in the "mid" range of life - started to meet as an offshoot of an IWOSC "Branding" seminar. Sharon joined us, and her humor and energy were palpable and inspiring.
At one point, we explored the notion of starting a website together, a kind of writer's emporium. When someone raised the question of whether or not we should include our pictures, Sharon piped up," Of course! Five beautiful women like us? Who wouldn't want to work with us!"
My recently divorced and struggling self looked over at her, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, brimming with confidence and delight, and thought,"Yeah! That's right! Who wouldn't want to work with us, with me!"
Thanks Sharon. I'm sure your ebullience is inspiring whatever souls you are now touching to reinvent themselves as beautiful, talented and worthwhile.

Sharon!
I'm going to miss you.
Sharp wit and big heart.
Delicacy and deft touch.
Great taste.
Great friend.
I keep remembering your musical bust! Was it Beethoven or Chopin? His face always seemed to change depending on your mood. I see his face in my mind and it's peaceful.
Love,
Oliver Mayer

I met Sharon over a year ago when we both had auto maintenance appointments at Jim's Automotive. I purchased her breakfast in exchange for a free coaching session. Needless to say, she recommended I join IWOSC or the Alameda Writers Group. I did join IWOSC at the "Festival of Books" and lo and behold, I started to attend meetings. Every time I attended one meeting or another, I found Sharon. We instantly connected and a friendship blossomed. In the brief year I have known her, we became attached to the hip at all IWOSC meetings. I remember reading Tarot cards for her. The subject of her potential home purchase (Frasier Park) came up and I told her, "The only drawback to this purchase will be a long commute." As was my habit, I said, "Are you sure you want to live there because you will be on the road a lot and your little Honda will be visiting Jim--more often." She decided to buy the home. She loved it!

The last communication I had from her was on January 17th. She apologized for not being able to participate in my Tarot class at SMCC. She emailed me that she waited until the last minute; she was stressed and did not want to put her job in jeopardy. I told her, "Work comes first. I totally understand and I'm not upset." I believe she always worried about not being there for people she liked.

We shared a bit about our lives, and we discovered we were kindred spirits--we had so much in common. She joked about how we were attending all these meetings on writing when we should have been writing.

I know that her life was complete. She accomplished what she was put on this earth do to. She brought writers together and shared her passion for the written word! She had a home she loved, wonderful friends and associates who appreciated her, and she had many plans for the future. She was a gift. I can hear her voice as I write these words. She will always be with us.

--Davida Rappaport

From Roy Reyes, Senior Recruiter @ Tek Systems:

I heard the news on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2006 at 10:15 A..M. from my manager, Devon. I am deeply saddened to hear about Sharon. I recruited Sharon for a technical writer position at FOX. She was an exceptional person as well as a great writer. We will miss her dearly.
Thanks for all the “lunch dates’” Sharon. You will be missed!!!

I'm going to Frazier Park today to help Sharon's cousin Shana. Apparently the funeral director has read all of Sharon's novels on her notebook computer. He said that they were great. Just think of how Sharon is improving the literary lives of those who deal with her even after her passing!

From Irwin Zucker, Founder, President Emeritus, Book Publicists of So. Calif.----

We are saddened to learn of the passing of a longtime member of our organization. Sharon was a gifted writing talent who also had the art of making friends-- always greeting everyone with a smile

.

From fellow IWOSCan Robin Quinn:

How shocking and sad to hear about Sharon. I didn't know Sharon well, but chatted with her a few times at different events. She was a familiar face in the crowd, and someone who seemed to have a lot going for her. I liked her energy and spark.

I'm sorry to hear about this news... and hope it inspires us to appreciate our living more and all the wonders of being here.

I wish her soul peace, and send my sympathy and heart-felt regret to those who were closer to Sharon.

From Roberta Edgar:

Sharon Gilbert was one of the smartest, most talented, and generous women I've ever met. She lived to be of service to others, and because of her expertise in certain areas she was able to do so exceedingly well, and to the benefit of all those who knew her.

The last time I heard from her, about two weeks ago, her parting thoughts were concern for my well being.

It is interesting to learn of the website she was planning to construct--The Next Level. A couple of years ago, she and I were planning to create a website for our writing services. Her friend, Jess, had suggested using a design of a high-rise building with an exterior elevator that takes the visitor to a different service on each succeeding level.

One way or another, Sharon has reached her highest level, and it is safe to say she will be finding new ways up there to put her knowledge and humanity to good use.

Wherever you are, Sharon, know you are loved and missed.

From Dave Zobel:

Sharon was so sweet, and such a great optimist. I’m lucky to have known her, even for such a short time.

I just talked to Sharon's cousin Shana, we really haven't figured out the cause of death.

They are looking for the will, if anyone knows where it is please contact me.

I also will be taking care of her writing when we located it.

Yes Sharon was loved, this is what Marc Cushman, former President of AWG had to say,

Sharon was kind and generous beyond belief, to me, my writing partner, Sue, and so many others at AWG. She gave fantastic script notes. She loved writing, and supporting writers, and was quick to help when she spotted material that she felt was special. I was stunned by the news and will be sad for a long time to come. I hope Sharon knew how much she was appreciated, and how much impact she had on others.

Thursday Morning

Many of you have asked the cause of death, we are waiting to hear from the corner. Sharon's body was discovered on Friday, January 27, by her neighbor. The coroner contacted her work, and the temp agency gave the coroner Travis Pike as her emergency contact.

Travis said it appears that Sharon died probably on 1/20 or 1/21. Her boss had told her to take a few days off becuase of the cold in her eye and therefore he was not aware that there was a problem.

Last night, I remembered I recieved e-mails from Sharon a week previously that she had a terrible cold/flu and couldn't go to lunch. My personal guess is that she had pnuenomia but don't quote me on that...

According to IWOSC president Flo Selfman:

I spoke to Sharon on Friday morning. She called me at home to talk about a problem we're having with the board minutes (as you probably know, she was IWOSC secretary). We were on the phone for an hour or so, and then she said, "I could talk to you forever, but I have to get back to work." Sharon was at the IWOSC board meeting on Jan. 9, and I saw "Good Night and Good Luck" at Fox with her on Jan. 11. We were yakking in the cold afterward and would have talked longer but we were both tired and she needed to get on the road.

The Kern County Sheriff's dept. located three first cousins in Wash. State; they and their mother (whose husband was Sharon's mother's brother, so she's not a blood relative) seem to be Sharon's only relatives. I've been on the phone with her cousin Shana a few times at length; Shana is going down to Bakersfield and Frazier Park tomorrow and Friday.

Sharon told me quite a bit of information when I took her to Kaiser the last week in December. I'm seraching my database in my head to see how I can help.

At 6:20 pm this evening I was informed that Sharon Gilbert had died. I was in shock. Now I realize what Sharon would have loved more than anything is for us to write about her.

Sharon's last words to me were in a phone message to me, "I'm sorry I can't go for Chinese Muslim food, I've just been to Kaiser and they said I have a cold in my eye and it is contagious and I don't want you to get it."

That was left on my phone machine on the evening of Friday, January 20, 2006.

Obviously Kaiser, it was a lot more than a cold in her eye!

Sharon loved writing in all forms. She wanted to launch a Web site, "The Next Level" taking all writing to the next level. She is already at the next level of life so I think we should honor her by writing about her in a way that shows her genius.

Oh yeah she also was a stickler for grammar and punctuation, so do it right.

You can post any comment you like.

I'm so saddened by our great loss of a truly divine talent and one heck of singer.

If you have any trouble posting comments you may e-mail me. Lynn Walford at lw@freelancewriternow.com and I will post the comments for you.