Mary Lucille Gilbert Obituary

SCBA is sharing Ms. Gilbert’s Obituary at the request of her family.   She and Judge Gilbert assisted the bar with dual events hosted by SCBA and Saginaw Lawyers Wives throughout their careers.  

Mary Lucille (Stark) Gilbert passed away peacefully on July 2nd, 2026, in the care of Arizona’s Hospice of the Valley at Sherman Home. Throughout her 95 years of life, Mary Lu’s optimism and bright spirit touched the lives of countless others, and she leaves behind a legacy of steadfast compassion and resilience.

On January 9th, 1931, Mary Lu was born in Pontiac, Michigan to Mary Lucille Halcin and Dwight Judson Stark of Mio, Michigan. After losing both of her parents at an early age, she was raised in Mio by her grandparents, John Kneff Stark and Josie Amanda Clover. She grew up surrounded with love and support from numerous relatives, the broader community, and notably, her stepmother, Roma Helen (McGinnis) Stark. In Mio, you could find her working as a “soda jerk” at the local drug store, which likely sparked her lifelong love of ice cream.

Mary Lu attended college at Michigan State University and later moved to Saginaw, Michigan, where she met the love of her life. She married the late Robert (Bob) Stedman Gilbert on September 6th, 1952, and they eventually settled down in Saginaw in a house on Wellesley Drive, where they lived together until Bob’s passing in 2014. The two of them welcomed many friends, family, and neighbors into their lives over the decades. As she, herself, would put it: she wanted to be a truck driver so she could see the country, but instead, she married Bob Gilbert and saw the world.

In her community, Mary Lu served as a P.E.O. member, the President of Lawyers’ Wives of Saginaw County, and as a fundraiser for The American Cancer Society. Mary Lu also dedicated years of work to the Saginaw Township Public School system as a librarian and aide. She and Bob raised three children, Tom, Patty, and Nancy, whose childhoods were filled with adventures – in planes, on sailboats, at the cabin, and elsewhere! Their family bickered over which team to champion – the Michigan Wolverines or Michigan State Spartans – for years to come, but their support for the Detroit Lions and Tigers stood firm.

In 2017, Mary Lu courageously moved across the country to Arizona, where she lived for the remainder of her life. Her days in the sun featured knitting, coloring, games of Rummikub, and afternoon happy hours with many newfound friends. If you had the pleasure of knowing Mary Lu throughout her life, and especially in her final years, you may remember her expressing that she had “no complaints”. It must be true because her smile never faded, and her positivity never wavered.

She lives on through her children, Tom (Marsha) Gilbert, Patty (Jeff) Weintraub, Nancy (the late Dave) Otwell; grandchildren, Bailey (Paul) Mittelstadt, Aaron (Amber) Weintraub, Abigail and Jamie Otwell; great-grandchildren, Otto and Poppy Mittelstadt; and her dear cousins Nadine Dewitt, Nancy and Diane Stark.

She was a cherished wife, mother, aunt, cousin, and friend to many loved ones who keep her memory close. The family requests that memorial contributions be made in honor of Mary Lu to Arizona's Hospice of the Valley (https://hov.org/donate/donate-now/).