Glen Duncan Gibson

A good freind, Serious Jammer, Cool Guitarist, Sous-Chef

Glen lived with his with his older brother Paul (if I remember correctly) and with his mother who was a secretary at the time and his dad, whom was a producer at CBC for many years.

His Dad, unfortunately, was quite the drinker. Although there wasn’t that much strife in the home it started to affect his health. After much insistence from the family, Glen’s dad had quit drinking at least for a time (it was said, that to hide it, he would get a glass of milk and add a jigger of vodka – to which he admitted, later when caught, would taste awful)

Paul, who was a straight-A student and on the high school football team, developed schizophrenia while still in high school which had caused a considerable amount of turmoil in the house, It was that, that exacerbated his dads drinking. His dad died not much later of cirrhosis of the liver.

Glen, only 15 years of age at the time and living with a fragile mother and a schizophrenic person, was not capable of handling nor caring for everyone – he had to leave home (Paul subsequently was sent to a home).

A few years later while I was in College, there was a teacher, which had despised me so much that he had recommended that I was not to be admitted to the 3rd year. Glen had crafted a well written letter with brilliant arguments on my behalf, after interviewing me for applicable info, to write it accordingly which did the job.

I feel I owe my entire successful career due to that letter – Thanks Glen.

He went through a number of jobs, most notably being a Sous-Chef at a popular café around Yonge and Eglinton Toronto called “Chapters” – It was a café and a book store in one “What a Novel Idea” was their slogan. (Pretty sure they came up with that after I told the manager about it)

He lived with me and Pete (also known a Spike- A nickname he had relished) on Sudan Street for what seemed like a number of years. There we would have parties and jams and music recordings (Glen was a total tape head) with good friends Mike and Rob and the like. I could go on about those happy times, but it was quite a blur.

I ended up moving to Alberta with my then girlfriend (as did Rob- The timelines elude me however)

Glen came out west for the first time in 1988 and stayed with his good friend Rob’s home for a few weeks while he got oriented before moving to Banff. I would visit him quite frequently in Banff. He had a Career there with the then quite famous Buffalo Mountain Lodge as a Sous-Chef. This was probably the highlight of his career.

I remember sitting in a bar with him in Banff and Glen pointing to a very pretty girl a few tables down and stating that he really liked that girl and that he was going to ask her out. I told him she was way out of his league and best for him to forget it and go for the waitress instead.

Well they ended up lived together for about 20 years in Banff.

After 20 years they eventually parted ways, she going back to Nova Scotia and Glen roughing it for a couple of more years in Banff before his drinking landed him a bit of trouble at work (he was somewhat depressed after the breakup). He ended up coming up to Edmonton to live with me for a few months before he landed a job downtown. He was still grappling with work and life in general at this point, until I got a call from the EPS (Edmonton Police Service), to tell me that he had passed.

He once told me that he would have liked to live at my farm (shown in the picture above) which is where his urn still resides.

God bless you Glen. We all miss you. Stay warm by the fire