Huntington’s Ken Gilbert Says Goodbye
It sure will be strange to go into Huntington High School’s cavernous auditorium for an event, look up into the balcony and not see longtime stage manager Ken Gilbert at the controls. After three decades in the district the veteran stage manager has retired.
Kenneth Harlan Gilbert grew-up in a small upstate town. He earned an undergraduate degree at SUNY Brockport, initially studying physical education before switching to Earth science and finally to music. He obtained a Master’s degree at SUNY Geneseo in music education.
An incredibly talented musician, Mr. Gilbert has a singing voice made of silk. Give him a stool, guitar and microphone and sit back and be entertained. No one is a better performer.
For the past 15 years, Mr. Gilbert has been the stage manager at Huntington High School, working closely with the drama club’s advisor on fall and spring productions. His stage crew has repeatedly earned rave reviews. The crew’s set designs and lighting and sound efforts have won awards.
Mr. Gilbert has worn many hats at Huntington High School over the years, working as a study hall and hallway assistant/teaching assistant. He joined the staff on a full-time basis in September 1984 and he has stepped in to cover the classes of absent teachers, supervised in-school suspension, proctored exams and done anything else he was asked to do.
The Huntington veteran has known for some time that he wanted to retire at the end of June. Mr. Gilbert has been looking forward to resuming a more active career in music along with playing more golf, continuing to spend time drawing and painting (he’s even sold some pieces) and heading off to visit faraway lands, including such places as Japan, Ireland and Italy and U.S. destinations out west and in Florida.
Current Huntington drama club advisor Michael Schwendemann is very sorry to see Mr. Gilbert leaving. “For the last seven years he has been my right hand, my therapist, my censor, my arbiter of good taste, my designer, my partner in crime and most of all, my friend,” Mr. Schwendemann said. “The thought of entering the auditorium looking to the stage and not seeing him there is a daunting one. He is gruff, rough and good-lookin’ on the outside and a teddy bear with the patience of a saint on the inside. My loss is personal; the school community is losing much more.”
Mr. Gilbert’s stage crew has been second to none in the business. He helped turn students into sound and lighting wizards. He led the development of exceedingly attractive sets and worked hard to meet the needs of actors.
Mr. Schwendemann told his colleague that as he turned off the house lights for the final time in his career and walked out of the auditorium and into retirement he should always remember “that not just anyone can do what you have done for Huntington High School and those kids’ lives that were made better by knowing you.”