4AB.  Raymond Cecil Gilbert was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on Tuesday, August 21, 1928. Marian Louise Subora was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, on Saturday, November 1, 1930. They were married in Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, on Saturday, August 30, 1952. She took the name Marian Louise Gilbert. He is the son of Raymond Cecil Gilbert and Thelma Perrine Gilbert. She is the daughter of Ernest Joseph and Doris Harriet (Ackerman) Subora. He changed his name from Sabourin to Subora. They had two children:

Ray and Marian Gilbert Dec 1992

Raymond graduated from Western Michigan University in December, 1968. He started in the Pulp and Paper Manufacturing curriculum for which Western is known, then changed to a general degree with a major in sociology and minor in psychology. He also took many math and science courses and graduated with a bachelor of science. He completed his final classes at night, commuting about 30 miles each way from Three Rivers.

He and Marian lived in Grand Rapids, then Three Rivers, where he worked for the Three Rivers Rubber Company as a mold designer. In 1973 the family moved to Wichita, Kansas, where he had accepted a job with Wescon Products Company, a plastics company, as a sales engineer. He provided design specifics and cost estimates for items to be constructed of plastic. Raymond's perfectionist and artistic traits served him well in this position. He retired on December 31, 1995, and remained in Wichita.

Marian was a librarian for several years, then an office manager for the Carrier Air Conditioning Company.

• Personal interviews and Personal knowledge