Cragin Allen Gilbert, Sr.

 To those of you who knew Cragin Gilbert Sr., you know he deserves a most unique obituary. He will forever remain in our hearts as the most steadfastly devoted and tenderhearted husband and daddy. His humble beginnings in Millry, AL on January 15, 1945, born to Elizabeth Anne and Cragin Gilbert, our late beloved grandparents, stayed near to his heart until his last day of serving our God here on Earth, August 30, 2024, at our family farm in Poplarville, MS. Mother, Cragin and I were within breathes of his being as Jesus came close to take him to heaven. He has been reunited in heaven’s glory with an immense number of our loved ones. Nicole Gilbert, our late sister, was surely first in line in a parade of loved ones to welcome him.

 Our Daddy had immeasurable strength, even in his last days. His strength of spirit taught us and never failed us in all our lives, and he still exemplified this even in his final hours. Our memories with him are priceless, countless, humbling, soulful, and hilarious. He set a truly perfect example of carving out time for those he loved. We do not know how he did it. He was always there for each of us at every turn in our lives right when we needed him, while still working and building a business. Our Daddy had an incredible inner strength to push through. Our grandmother, Me Maw G, often spoke of how he was like this all his life. We have witnessed his perseverance even when pure exhaustion had set in during many of our family’s trials. He was from good stock. His Daddy, our beloved Paw Paw G, was able to endure immense stress as prisoner of war in WWII in Germany and our loving Me Maw G left at home alone to raise him the first year and a half explains where the genes of willpower originate. His common response was, “Nothing to it!” to not make anyone uncomfortable when he went the extra mile for you.

 Daddy truly stood the test of time providing for and raising three very busy kids! He coached several little league baseball teams as Cragin grew up. He took such pleasure in retrieving Cragin’s many homerun balls and loved telling how far in the woods or deep in the ditch he had to go to retrieve it. Being Nicole’s décor assistant was always an adventure as she routinely said, “my daddy can do that… he can do anything I ask him...”. He was “volunteered” for many jobs that often-involved great heights on ladders and tree limbs with lights, glitter and garlands in tow. The amount of demo tapes, voice lessons, piano lessons, and sheet music Daddy bought for me and Nicole to use for performances were too many to count! It was not uncommon in the right seasons for Daddy to wake us up early to go fishing on Moses pier before school or have the lanterns ready for floundering out front when we all got through with homework on a school night!! Sometimes he even threw in a mini golf game or late-night Wet Willies Slide trip. We just always had something we were doing together. We never really went to camps. Who would? We had Daddy!

 He has been able to do some of these same things in his grandson’s early years. Many games of Chess and Monopoly were played with Cade and Cole, of which he still remains champion. He was able to enjoy their sports and music talents thrive as well. He was most proud of how the artistic and musical talent was being carried on in both grandsons as well as the love of our family farm. He certainly never missed a game, recital, award ceremony, play, singing performance, pageant, graduation, wedding, christening, or baptism. Of course, most of these events and adventures occurred after he had stood and worked all day with back-to-back clients. Even if he had to drive for hours after work to get there or began nodding off during that recital or performance, he always made sure he was present! 

 The 56 years of marriage Daddy and Mother shared began at Nugent Methodist Church in Lyman, MS on October 20, 1968. We always thought it was unique and special that our mother and daddy lived for years right next door to the sweet little beautiful church where they married on John Clark Road. For all those years they stood side by side building, Gilbert’s Salon. This achievement is rare between husbands and wives and we as their children still marvel at our parents’ stamina and fortitude in doing so. Daddy set such an admirable example of doing what was fair and right in business. Stylists came to work and learn from our parents and launched their success at Gilbert’s Salon from the various locations it held between Gulfport and Biloxi. While this building was going on, it afforded my sister, brother and me precious irreplaceable time with both sets of our grandparents, Uncle Bill and Aunt Betty, and many close cousins that we wouldn’t trade for anything. Daddy knew it would keep us well rounded.

 His own high school years at Harrison Central proved to be very memorable as well! It was a common past time while my sister, brother, and I were at the farm to go through Daddy’s old annuals because he was “all through them”. All the sports he played, all the conferences won, the countless clubs, Who’s Who Awards such as Most Handsome, Most Likely to Succeed, Funniest, and Class Favorite are truly just a few. He also had so many nick names from high school friends, like “Ace” and family nicknames, like “Big C” and “Pete” and the list could go on and on. Daddy’s graduating class was uniquely close and endearing as well. So, we got to know lots of his classmates as they all checked on each other often through the years.

 Daddy was not one to keep score about anything. If you needed him, he helped how he could while expecting nothing in return. He often said, “Life is not about keeping score, I don’t like keeping score.” He had such a helpful heart. It was not uncommon for Daddy to be the one to stop on the side of the road no matter the location to help someone stranded. Ladies with messed up haircuts, who had learned of Daddy’s styling abilities, would walk so tearfully in the shop and Daddy would fix what all of us on lookers’ thought was unfixable! He had a tremendously skillful eye for his trade, artistic talent with an incredible ability to read facial lines and structure, and a gift to set clients at ease about what was the best look for them.

 To say Daddy was a character as well is an understatement! His methods of waking up his teenage children are ones for the books! Daddy would serenade us with a bellaring voice with some of his favorites like, “What a Wonderful World” or some aggravating trendy 80’s song at the time! No one could sleep! Water guns were also involved! His gift-wrapping skills were indescribable. He loved a good prank and so often you needed saws, wrenches, and screwdrivers to open them! We also picked at him about how life with him was like living with a real live Chevy Chase character. My innocent, unassuming Daddy could so honestly get himself in the most unbelievable fixes. I mean movie worthy! We would often be in movies where we were stunned and then laugh without end to a situation that was “very real” in our world!!

 Daddy also had countless family friends that were not blood. He so enjoyed keeping up with our wonderful Coast Community that we all called home. He was humble about his mastery haircutting skills and color work that attracted clients from all over the country. Yet, it was his love and appreciation of his established clientele that he most enjoyed seeing weekly. He has taken care of whole generations of Coast families even to the grandchildren’s first haircuts. He found immense joy in keeping up with so many families! We always admired how well Daddy remembered each client’s life work, family members, and how they were connected throughout our community. He was an excellent “go to” resource. Daddy enjoyed being involved as much as possible in the community so that meant Mardi Gras too of course! Becoming a charter member of the Coast Krewe of Neptune with many of his buddies was such a highlight for him! He was so proud to be a member of The Revelers of Biloxi as well where he was honored to serve on the court with mother by his side. For years Daddy looked so forward to morning breakfast get togethers at McElroy’s and Mahoney’s with men he had called dear friends across our coast. 

 Daddy’s spiritual walk could be quiet and deep and then show up fierce when he needed to spiritually stand in the gap for us. We were often struck with how he could advise us in such a profound way with the simplest reasoning. We have seen him turn to God and beg God for help and still not get the answer he wanted but never fail to tell the family that what he wanted wasn’t what God needed and wanted and God knows best. It would be in our later teenage years that we truly understood Daddy’s “casting seeds moments”. He taught us to give and leave seeds for others by giving in undisclosed ways. It was not uncommon for my Daddy or Mother to stuff money in our hands when were kids and tell us to take it to a stranger across the aisle or an adjacent seat as we were leaving an establishment. 

 Daddy was usually the first to help in any given situation. He was always the one to step up to the plate when needed. We have witnessed our Daddy being a hero on so many occasions throughout his life, even to strangers. He was also so well liked by all our classmates growing up. It was not uncommon for anyone of us to have plans with a group of friends and all of them end up spending most of the night or much of our “date” time in our family sunroom and “shooting the bull” with Daddy. He ended up being like a father figure to a good many. Daddy was so good at giving nicknames to anyone! Our family members and close cousins have some real humdingers! We know we are home when we hear them. It was a right of passage!

 His lifelong desire to live and die at our family farm, Triple C Cattle Farm, LLC, was something we were determined to honor. He loved everything about the farm. He loved that it was named for “Our Three Cragins”. He loved the porch where conversations with generations of loved ones have been enjoyed, fields full of cows and new calves, fishing in the lake anytime he wanted, and his sweet KiKi the cat. Countless memories of so many “firsts” of mine, Nicole’s, and Cragin’s life happened there as well. Memories were all around him and he loved telling Cade and Cole about all the now funny “close calls” and predicaments he had with their uncle “C” there as he grew up!

 We were always rich because of the love Daddy gave. It truly wrapped around our family. God made Daddy’s soul so big that it was always bigger than his body. It filled the room, it kept us safe, it calmed and steadied us. Daddy gave us a reason to love him more and more each day he was here with us.

To spend our lifetime trying to live out what he taught is a charge for the rest of us who remain.

Carolyn Gilbert, wife; Jennifer Gilbert Farris, daughter (Wayne); Cragin Gilbert Jr, son (Liz); Thomas “Cade” Farris and James “Cole” Farris, grandsons; Brother-in-law, Reverend Billy Towles; Donna Moore, Sister-in law; Colette Towles and Roxanne Towles, nieces; Olivia Towles, grand niece and Seth Towles, nephew.

Daddy requested that in lieu of any formal funeral arrangements or flowers that prayers and any donations that friends and family felt lead to make be directed to any these recipients:

Me2you Foundation – Me2you.donate@gmail.com or deposit to the Me2You Foundation at any branch of The First Bank

Cancer Research Institute – Donations to Brain or Prostate give.cancerresearch.org 

 Cragin and Carolyn Gilbert Scholarship Fund

 Details to be Announced

Service Arrangements: 

We will be bringing Daddy’s ashes home and are planning an intimate family gathering lakeside at the foot of his pier on our family farm.

 “Our family is eternally grateful for your time spent in prayer for our Daddy.”