STEVE

STEVE
Last night, at 7:50, I lost my long-time friend, Steve Gibbens. He was 86 - born in 1922 - the same year as my brother Bob - who died on May 31, 1984. Marie and I first met Steve and Maggie Gibbens in December 1945, in the lobby of the Michigan theatre in Ann Arbor. We had been married for a year, My sister Jeanne, and her husband, Bob Gibbens, who introduced us, had been married for a year and a half and Maggie and Steve were short timers - married for only 6 months. Steve and Bob were brothers, who grew up in Kalamazoo. No wonder that Steve and I had a “brother” relationship.
Our meeting was the start of a beautiful relationship of over 65 years with Steve, and continues on with Maggie and their five children - Moiré (Mollie); Rory; Briny; Deirdre (Dee) and Nick.
Steve was an intellectual, as is Maggie. During the years, we got together many times, and it was never boring. We had many interesting conversations - some of which included politics and religion! Discussions with very intelligent people is not only a pleasant- learning experience, but it is up-lifting.
We started out, in 1946, living in a similar student -housing complex in Willow Run, Michigan (three miles East of Ypsilanti.) A few months later, Steve and Maggie bought a house in Ypsilanti. Marie and Maggie worked for Kaiser-Fraser Auto Company at Willow Run - a few miles from where we lived.( Ford ran the plant during WW II, assembling B-24 heavy-bombers. - one an hour - 24 per day!) By our wives working, Steve and I were able to attend the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Our housing was pretty primitive, but our rent was only $18 a month - INCLUDING water and electricity. We had no phone (cell phones hadn’t been invented back then) and had to buy our own coal! This was used to fire our stove in the small kitchen. The stove did yeoman duty - heated the house and water, as well as used for cooking. It worked fairly well in the winter (except for the snow-covered -frozen together -clumps of coal in our outdoor storage bin). But in the hot-humid summer months - the stove was not a viable source for heating the water, or for cooking.
In 1947, we had a “snow day” in late May. My “bride” (who had never been out of California until we were married in Douglas, Arizona) gave me a choice - “Michigan or me - take your choice - because I am leaving. I’m going back to California.” While normally, I probably would have asked her if I could get back to her on that, but in this case, I took her at her word. I decided to agree to return to California with her. Maggie and Steve also decided to return to California. I transferred from Michigan to Cal-Berkeley. Steve had just graduated from Michigan and enrolled at UC - Berkeley, to get his Masters.
Marie and I moved into a building at 701 South 51st street in Richmond. We had a small sitting/bed room (everything was small); kitchenette and bath. The facility was used during the war to house workers for the Kaiser shipyard in Richmond. (The I-80 freeway passes through there today - that‘s progress I guess.) Our housing was a slight up-grade from Willow run, but so was the rent - $28 a month - including utilities! You get what you pay for. Write it down!
In the 50’s,we lived in Antioch, and Maggie and Steve lived in Pleasant Hill and Berkeley. No family for either of us, after a few years of marriage. So, the four of us checked in at Kaiser - Oakland to see what our problem might be. Steve and I were seeing Dr. Knigge, and he was treating us with various pills to “soup us up”. Our two wives were seeing another doctor. Whatever they did, it worked! Each couple went on and had five children! I told Steve that we should have sent Dr. Knigge a birth announcement after each of our kids were born. After each of us had our fifth one, we could have penned a note , “Can we could stop taking these darn pills now?”
The Gibbens moved to Berkeley, and we moved to Vallejo. We visited each other fairly often - mostly we visited them. We always enjoyed each others’ company and, of course, our kids were all at similar ages, so they always had a good time.
While we lived in Hawaii for 4 ½ years, we lost that “closeness” with the Gibbens. When we returned to the mainland, we saw a lot of each other once again. When we first came back in 1962, we rented a house, a couple of doors from them in Berkeley. So, our two families saw a lot of each other. We even stayed with their kids a week while they went back to Washington, D.C. They picked up a new Pontiac (in Pontiac) on their return to Berkeley. It was quite a sight when we would drive around Berkeley in their station wagon - with ten kids in back - (no seat belt law back then.)
Marie and I also visited Steve when he was working in Washington D.C. and also when he was working, and living, in Sacramento, ( Maggie was holding down the fort in Montecito.) We visited both Maggie and Steve in Montecito after Steve retired, and they visited us in Vallejo.
A few years ago, we visited them in Hana, Maui. Their daughter Mollie, and her husband Ken Feingold, let them use their Maui home for a week. It is a very nice place, and we enjoyed spending the time with them in such a beautiful setting.
In 1989, we visited Maggie and Steve in England. They had traded houses, and the owners were in Maggie and Steve’s home in Montecito.
So, you can see that we were very close.
Good bye Steve. I will miss you very much. Thanks for the memories.
Semper Fidelis!
RCL - 3/7/09