Brig. Gen. (retired) Wendell H. Gilbert, age 91, of Clarksville, passed away Friday, July 8, at the “Brigadier General Wendell H. Gilbert” Tennessee State Veterans Home, Clarksville.
Visitation will be held on Friday, July 15, from 4-7 p.. and Saturday, July 16, from 9-10 a.m. at McReynolds, Nave & Larson Funeral Home. A graveside service will be held at 10:30 a.m., July 16, at Greenwood Cemetery with the Rev. Harriet Bryan officiating. Full U.S. Army honors will be rendered with Ed Groves, Ben Kimbrough, Ted Crozier Jr. and Martin Crozier serving as honorary pallbearers.
Gen. Gilbert was born in Clarksville on June 16, 1931, to Wendell H. Gilbert and Mary Elizabeth Sullivan Gilbert. After graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in June of 1954, he proudly served 27 years in the US Army. Some of his most memorable assignments during his military career were serving two tours in Vietnam, and commanding an artillery battery, battalion and brigade at Army posts in the United States and Germany. He served both as the 101st Airborne Division artillery commander and the division’s chief of staff. Gilbert’s military awards include among many others the Legion of Merit (with Oak Leaf Cluster), Bronze Star Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster), and Meritorious Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster). He was a proud artillery officer who was also the recipient of the Combat Infantry Badge, Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge among other U.S. and Vietnamese awards.
Upon his retirement from the Army, Gilbert served as vice president for development at Austin Peay State University. He helped to begin fundraising campaigns such as the APSU’s Candlelight Ball still held each year. After his time at APSU, he was called to state service as commissioner of Veterans Affairs, the state’s first commissioner of Homeland Security and finally to be the chief of staff for Gov. Don Sundquist.
Community service was also important to Gilbert. He was a founding member of both the Customs House Museum’s fundraiser “Flying High” and Leadership Clarksville. He also served as president of both the Clarksville Chamber of Commerce and the Clarksville Rotary Club and served on numerous other boards and commissions. Gilbert was a lifelong member of the Madison Street United Methodist Church.
Gilbert is predeceased by his wife of 65 years, Eugenia (Jean) Meadows Gilbert, their son, Wendell H. Gilbert III, and his parents Wendell and Mary Gilbert. He is survived by his daughter, Ann Marie Crozier (Ted), and his two grandchildren, Caroline Sismanturk (Celik) and Martin Crozier.
It is Gilbert’s wish that any memorials be donated to the APSU general scholarship fund. Condolences may also be made to Gilbert’s family by visiting NaveFuneralHomes.com.