Thirty years on the books

Bill Gilbert has marked his 30th anniversary working in the accounting department of the Diocese. 

He bikes to work, so even the downtown protests didn’t interrupt his long-standing routine.

Co-workers were surprised that he could have been working for three decades. “I guess I look a lot younger than I am,” he said with a chuckle in a chat with Crosstalk. “Maybe that’s the biking.”

He started off helping out after studying accounting. “I had a good boss at that time, Beverly Skelton, who had worked here for a long time, so I took over from her when she retired,” he explained. “It’s a good place to work. The people are nice. … I’m not the type of person who goes job hopping or hunting.”

Asked how things have changed, he said the accounting has become more complex. “When I started, people sent in either cash or cheque. Now think about what it means to transfer money and how many ways there are to do it. And everything has multiplied in the same way. Crosstalk was laid out on a light table with clips of paper. Everything in the world has gotten more complex.” 

The Gilbert family has a long history with the Diocese. His father, Canon William Gilbert Sr., is a retired priest and worked in the position now called director of program. He was also the editor of Crosstalk. Bill Jr. recalled, “That’s how I know about the light table. When I was a little boy I can remember …[asking] ‘What’s that thing, Dad?’”

Gilbert says he’s not ready to retire any time soon, noting that his son is just 12. “Maybe when he’s in university, he said. “I’ll know when I’m ready.”  Happy Anniversary, Bill!