It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved friend and mentor, taken from us too soon by failing health and a heart attack. A man of many talents, with an extraordinary breadth and depth of interests, he was kind, gentle and curious about things most kids and many adults weren’t even aware of. This curiosity continued throughout his life, leading him to explore theatre, languages, cooking, genealogy, screenwriting, chess, history, poetry, music genres, playing classical Spanish guitar, and the banjo in the old timey music tradition, the law and politics. His career was as diverse as his personal life, having practised law, worked in politics for the BC Social Credit Party and the Federal Conservative Party, and conducted memorable Canadian Citizenship ceremonies as a Citizenship Court Judge – explaining so well the essence of what it was to be Canadian. George was a respected Public Member of the Board of the College of Licensed Practical Nurses, and most recently was a Member and the Vice-Chair of the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He co-hosted “The Magic Carpet” with Howie Siegel, a radio show in Victoria. Aside from his accomplishments, George was unique in his kind heartedness. The saying, “he didn’t have a mean bone in his body” could have been written of him. Because of this, and because of his voluminous knowledge of many topics, George had a lot of friends from very different backgrounds. He was a true renaissance man, an eccentric character in the best of ways, and a loyal and true friend. He will be so very greatly missed by those of us who knew and loved him. “He was the microcosm of man, of a human being. He had everything.”
Predeceased by parents, Joseph Paul Alphonse Gibault and Muriel Thoms, and brother Joseph Gibault. He leaves behind niece, Nicole Lake, and all his beloved friends.
A Memorial Service and Celebration of Life for George with a reception to follow, will be held at 3:00 pm on Friday, August 26, 2016 at McCall’s new location, McCall Gardens, 4665 Falaise Drive in Victoria.
In lieu of flowers, donations in George’s memory would be appreciated to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of B.C., #106 – 1001 Cloverdale Avenue, Victoria, BC, V8X 4C9.
Condolences may be offered to the friends and family below.
McCall Gardens
www.mccallgardens.com
29 Responses
Thank you to all who have shared their experiences and memories of George here. I knew George from school days in Nelson and bumped into him occasionally through the years in Victoria. For me George was always larger than life in an enthusiastic not overbearing way. I am happy to know he had so many to share his varied interests with and sorry to learn of his passing. Some people leave an indelible impression. Such a man was George. Sincere condolences to his family and friends
On behalf of the Citizenship Commission, I wish to extend to all of George’s family and friends, our sincere condolences. I am moved by the heart-felt tributes to a man who is remembered in our midst for his brilliance, kindness, and generosity of spirit.
– Renata Brum Bozzi, Senior Citizenship Judge
I first met George when I moved to Victoria, in 1999. George was part of the Friday Lunch Club, at a Chinese restaurant as I recall, and of the circle of people who were interested in small-c conservative ideas and politics. But that was hardly all. His interests were broad-ranging, eclectic, his mind was insightful and his personality kind. I saw him several years ago now, the last time I was in Victoria. We did dinner at a pub and he was irrepressibly “George”. You could pick any year at random out of human history and George could probably come up with an event that happened in that year and explain its significance. I am sorry to have missed today’s service but even more sorry that I shall not see George’s twinkling, kind thoughtful eyes and his smile again. Do rest in peace George…you are missed.
I first worked with George back in the early 80’s and fondly remember our sessions In his small office deep in the ‘Ledge near the stacks where he could lay his hands on just about anything to built his political research. I was in awe of his vast knowledge and in particular his culinary skills. I enjoyed many a late night Szechaun meal at his place as we soldiered in the political trenches. A great colleague and mentor. God bye George. It was truly great knowing you.
George was a man of exceptional wit and intellectual curiosity. Whether he shared your opinion or disagreed with you, he did so with vigour, honesty and a refreshing flair for the dramatic. I can’t remember ever having a chat with George where I didn’t learn something interesting, or come away seeing something from a new angle I hadn’t considered before. He made my brain work, whether we were discussing the fall of the Roman Empire, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or anything in between.
I am saddened that I won’t be able to attend his memorial service, but even more saddened knowing that the many threads of our running conversations through the years on art, politics, history, music and philosophy are now at an end, with so much more still to say.
Fortunately, if I close my eyes I can still see him, wisps of hair curling friar-like around his head, looking up and off into the middle distance as he composed some strange and wonderful observation that would transform whatever topic was at hand from the pedestrian to the sublime.
– Logan Wenham
I am very moved by the tributes recorded by George’s numerous friends here. I knew him, on and off, for many decades. We met in a bookstore in Kamloops where I had a summer job–this must have been 1979. There was a file box with index cards tracking the glacial progress of twenty or thirty incredibly obscure books he had special-ordered, and I wondered in advance of his first appearance in the shop who on earth could have had such diverse and recondite interests. So when he appeared in due course after some holiday and identified himself, I exclaimed loudly, SO YOU ARE GEORGE GIBAULT! We struck up a friendship almost immediately–he worked nearby–and sometimes had lunch, sometimes longer talks. The owner of the bookshop said only half-jokingly that she would have gone out of business without his constant patronage.
That summer in Kamloops is the time I like to remember best. But we stayed in touch and met again, this time in Victoria, in the mid-1990s. George was a reliably fascinating companion, and could be counted on to be knowledgeable about everything under the sun, as noted again and again in these comments by his friends; he was extremely generous, warm-hearted, unguardedly human, vulnerable in some respects, and had a dark melancholic side. The last few years it was clear that he was in terrible health, but he never complained, not once–part of his authentic greatness of spirit.
George was a fascinating, loveable and brilliant fellow. He had an insatiable appetite for smart humour, clever politics and good food. He will be missed. A life and a campaign well lived.
Rest in peace my friend.
Bruce Strachan
I have had the advantage of reading the notes which memorialize George on this site and am pleased to see that so many of us shared such profound affection and admiration for this great man. In another time, George would have been Merlin; in another, a Clan Chieftain doing battle with the Sassenachs; in another, the sage who passed oral traditions and family history to his relatives in the Smoky Mountains, while playing a two hundred year old refrain on a two hundred year old banjo; in another, a respected Citizenship Court Judge who welcomed newcomers to Canada in a moving and elegant paean to our Country; in another, a solon who crafted words and phrases to inspire and cajole the masses, delivered by lesser mortals who stood in positions of power. George was all of those things and a great deal more. He enjoyed the past as if he had lived it and recounted it for those of us fortunate enough to be able to share in his knowledge. It is pleasing to think that he spoke not of history he had learned but history he had experienced. May his next life be as full of accomplishment and friendship as this one has been. But how could it not? After all, this is George.
George,
You were, above all, a singular man. Inimitable and irrepressible, we’ll never see another like you.