I can't say I was a friend of Gilbert's - or Pop Bottle Pete as we knew him at Lowell School - but he was a definitely a character from our childhoods. He didn't talk much and, was hard to know but was well remembered for his hobby of collecting empty pop bottles to get money for candy at the little store or 7-11. I heard at our 10th reunion that he grew up to run a 7-11 and I thought - you just can't make this stuff up. I wished then, and now, that I could have found out more about him, if he was happy, what his life was like. I'm sad I never got that opportunity.
Natalie A Gustafson
I can't say I was a friend of Gilbert's - or Pop Bottle Pete as we knew him at Lowell School - but he was a definitely a character from our childhoods. He didn't talk much and, was hard to know but was well remembered for his hobby of collecting empty pop bottles to get money for candy at the little store or 7-11. I heard at our 10th reunion that he grew up to run a 7-11 and I thought - you just can't make this stuff up. I wished then, and now, that I could have found out more about him, if he was happy, what his life was like. I'm sad I never got that opportunity.