Linda Gilson — A Driving Force in Milan

Every community has its movers and shakers, those people who are at the center of what's happening, whether it is organizing a parade or chairing a committee to raise money for a good cause.

Whatever is happening in Milan, Linda Gilson seems to be part of it. Networking seems to be part of her very core. That is what she was honored for recently by being named by the Milan Chamber of Commerce as recipient of its Community Award.

Gilson is not a Milanese born and bred, but having moved here with her parents when she was only nine-months-old, she is about as close to native as one can be without opening one's eyes for the first time within the city confines.

Her passion for the city is inarguable. Her father was a city employee and she was courted by her husband Jim Gilson in the fashion of the time by tooling around town and sharing milkshakes at the local hangouts.

She attended Immaculate Conception School from second through eighth grade and completed secondary school at the old Milan High School.

In presenting the Milan Chamber of Commerce Community Award to Gilson, chamber secretary Norma Smith said of her, "To some, she may be known as the 'yes' woman, as when she sees a need, she is full-steam ahead. We all know people who are born to lead, and this gal is one of them."

Among a long list of recent projects and committees she is involved with are the Milan Fair Board, three terms on the Milan Area Historical Society Board, the Ford Lake Rehabilitation Ad Hoc Committee, and secretary of the Back Street Cruizers Club.

She and her husband are co-founders of the Back Street Cruizers, an organization that grew out of their shared passion for restoring automobiles.

"We don't just fix them up," she said. "We restore them and drive them as daily transportation."

She remembers fondly the process that they went through to acquire and rebuild their current automotive member of their family, which they christened "Mandy Joe." It is a 1966 Ford Fairlane Sedan, much like one that her husband owned when he was a young man.

"We spotted it in someone's backyard," she said. "We had been looking for one that was exactly like Jim's old one, but this one was close enough. The only problem was that it had a nitro drag racing engine in it and we wanted it to be as close to stock as possible, so Jim got to work and replaced the engine and exhaust and put conventional wheels back on it."

The Gilsons had long participated in the informal weekend show of other classic cars that fellow enthusiasts had restored and which convened just about every Thursday at Wilson Park, so, naturally, Gilson stepped up to make the gathering official by forming the Back Street Cruizers Club, which numbers some 60 members today.

Members of the club make excursions to the many other classic car shows in Michigan and Ohio, besides their regular Milan get-togethers.

Linda's commitment to the city she loves came to the forefront once again this year as Milan celebrated its 125th anniversary. She was instrumental in brainstorming and organizing a year's worth of events to commemorate the milestone, including locating the time capsule that was buried at the Centennial event, 25 years ago.

"It seems like everyone knew approximately where it was buried," Gilson recalled, "but no one knew exactly where, just somewhere next to the war memorial in Wilson Park."

Needless to say, bringing in one of the city's backhoes and trenching around the memorial was not a good option for finding the capsule, so through some intensive sleuthing and with a little luck and a metal detector, she helped city officials locate the exact spot and the capsule was unearthed. Gilson does not take all of the credit.

"Dink Devine from the DPW did an awful lot of work in digging it up," she said. "He did it on his own time at no expense to the city."

Gilson is now collecting the contents for a new time capsule that will be buried in the spring, with precise coordinates that will be recorded and put safely away this time. She said among the items that the new capsule will contain are letters, menus from local restaurants, and newspapers.

"The next time, whoever digs it up is going to know exactly where it is buried," Gilson said.

She is just as quick to help people in need as she is to organize entertaining events.

Gilson helps spearhead the annual Relay for Life that benefits those with cancer  and its survivors. In this nationwide fundraiser, Gilson has taken it upon herself to set up a Milan campsite for participants for the past three years.

Another example of her extraordinarily large heart was revealed this past spring when a tornado devastated our neighbors in Dundee. Linda and Jim Gilson had just finished hosting one of their Back Street Cruizer events when they heard the news. Gilson quickly gathered up all of the prepared food and took it to that stricken community.

All of this community activism is not a full-time job for Gilson, although it would be for the average person. Gilson also holds down a job at the Milan Kroger and still manages to be a civic sparkplug.