Gilbert Lee Hembree, born July 26, 1927, in Haywood County, North Carolina, died January 3, 2007. He was 79.

He was preceded in death by parents Harry and Clara (nee Medford) Hembree; brother Robert; sisters Marie and Dorothy; and his dearly beloved daughter Suzanne (Steward).

He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Deloris (nee Pontius); daughters Janice and Cynthia (Lee); sons Mark and Marshall; sisters Lillian and Deloris Ann; and six grandchildren: Jeffrey and Jennifer Steward; Bree Ann and Benjamin Lee; and Katherine and Michael Hembree.

Growing up in the mountains of western North Carolina, “Gil” liked to play baseball and build crystal radio sets, listening to late-night baseball games and music from Knoxville, Nashville and Chicago. He was a lifelong fan of the New York Yankees and country music.

At 17, he joined the Navy; he was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy Medical Corps at the end of World War II. After the war he attended the College of Emporia (Kansas), where in 1948 he married Deloris Pontius, a future English teacher from Topeka, Kansas. President of the Science Club, and a member of the Glee Club, he graduated the College of Emporia in 1949 with a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry.

In following years the Hembrees lived in North Carolina, New Jersey, Chicago, and eventually in Appleton, Wis., where the five children were raised. During the 1950s, Gil worked for DuPont as a research chemist who was part of a team developing Teflon. His chemistry background and a knack for salesmanship led him to selling pigments used for coated paper. He remained a sales representative in the paper industry for nearly 50 years, refusing retirement and working well into his 70s.

In the early 1980s, Gil and Deloris moved into the forest north of Rapid River, Michigan, residing year-round with generator power and no phone service. Gil, not an enthusiastic camper, joked about “Bambi Acres.” But he grew fond of birdwatching, reading poetry and Civil War history, listening to classical as well as country music, treasuring visits from his children and grandchildren, and enjoying a happily married life in the forest that had become his home.

Memorial Services will be Tuesday, January 9, 2007 at 1:00 PM at the Skradski Funeral Home in Gladstone.  The Hembree family is being assisted by the Skradski Funeral Home.