George Karsten Gilbertsen

MADISON- George Karsten Gilbertsen, age 91, of Madison, went to his heavenly home to join his Lord, family and friends on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. George was born on Sept. 28, 1925 to Martha Roeben Shaw and Charles Gilbertsen in a tarpaper shack on Blossom Lane in Blooming Grove, Wis. His love of and gift for music came early and followed him throughout his life. When he was 7 years old he learned to play the guitar and harmonica, and by 9 he was performing during breaks for Irv and Eva Hewitt's band. By 15, he was playing at dances with Phil Edwards and the Fox River Valley Boys and, a couple years later, with the Jack Penewell Hawaiian Group. In between his playing, he graduated from Madison East High School. World War II took George and his fiddle to the U.S. Navy, where he was a Hospital Corpsman on the USS Goodhue. His ship was hit by a kamikaze attack on April 2, 1945, and George played his fiddle for his wounded shipmates during their recovery. He entertained on a British cruiser and played square dances at a Red Cross Center in Shanghai. He was honorably discharged in 1946 and awarded the Victory Medal, Asiatic Pacific Area Campaign Medal (1 Star), American Area Campaign Medal and Philippine Liberation Ribbon (1 Star). For the rest of his life, every time he played the song, "Maui Chimes," he dedicated it to his lost shipmates. After the war, George continued to play, winning Wisconsin's Centennial Fiddler's contest in 1948. He toured for a brief time with Jimmy Wells and the Dakota Roundup. Over the years he played with the Badger Ramblers, Mid-State Drovers, Quaker Melody Boys "WIBA Rangers" and Harry Edwards and the Midwesterners. From 1963 to 2000 George was a member of the Goose Island Ramblers. Their music was a rich mix of old time and folk and had a distinctive performance style that endeared them to many in the Madison community and beyond. The fiddle was George's primary instrument but he expertly played anything with strings on it: guitar, mandolin, dobro and steel guitar. A showman with excellent comedic instincts, he put strings and an electric pick up on a toilet plunger, playing it like a steel guitar and always kissing the plunger at the end of the song. (The wincing audience didn't know he glued a piece of plywood to the area he made contact with.) In 1994, the Ramblers were invited to perform in the "Europe of America" segment of the Folk Masters series at the Barns at Wolf Trap outside Washington, DC. Their music was archived in the Smithsonian Institution the same year. George performed for the last time with his good friend and former Rambler, Bruce Bollerud, and daughter, Rose, on his 91st birthday for his Madison Pointe Senior Living family. George married the love of his life, Helen Mary Sennett, on Nov. 27, 1948, at St. Raphael's Cathedral in Madison. In addition to his music career, he worked as a food trucker and maintenance janitor for the University of Wisconsin's Memorial Union, a milkman for Bancroft Daily, and a parking meter repairman for the City of Madison. He retired in 1987, and with his wife traveled all over the United States. They shared a mutual passion for fishing, golfing, bowling, casinos, and each other's company. Like his father, George enjoyed working with wood. He spent hours in his shop crafting intricate doll houses, cradles, bird houses, and windmills for family and friends. He also loved to collect and repair fiddles, violins, and bows. He shipped a large quantity of his refurbished fiddles to the Moose Cree First Nation's music program in Moose Factory, Ontario. George is survived by his children, Jerry, Rose (Philip) Buechner, Nancy and Mary Leiser; nine grandchildren, Christopher, Jamie, Kristin, Nathan, Gabe, Helen, Annie, Sarah Rose and George; seven great-grandchildren; and a life-long friend, Don Koch. He was preceded in death by his parents, Charles and Martha Gilbertsen; wife, Helen Mary (Sennett); and his brothers, Harold, Marvin, James Shaw and LeRoy Gilbertsen. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at ST. BERNARD CATHOLIC CHURCH, 2450 Atwood Ave., Madison, at 11 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 27, 2017, with Father Michael Radowicz presiding. Visitation will be held at the church from 10 a.m. until the time of the Mass on Friday. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to a charity of your choice. Our family would like to extend our sincere thanks to Dr. Robert Boyle, St. Mary's Hospital staff, and Home Health United Hospice for the excellent and tender loving care dad received from you. We love you, dad, and will miss you. We will remember your sage advice to "savor each day." When it's our time to join you, we'll listen for your music! Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com. Gunderson East Funeral & Cremation Care 5203 Monona Drive (608) 221-5420