City
Bids Gabriel Farewell |
By Jorge Casuso
January 2 -- He lectured newly insured drivers on being
courteous, helped young couples buy their first home and advised
City officials on how local politics work.
Bob Gabriel, a civic leader and owner of Santa Monica’s most
respected insurance company, was remembered during a funeral service
Saturday as a man who cared deeply -- for his family and friends,
the country he defended in two wars and a town he called “the
biggest little city in the world.”
The several hundred friends who flocked to St. Monica Catholic
Church to pay their respects -- including half-a-dozen Santa Monica
mayors spanning three decades -- hailed Gabriel, who died on December
13 at age 84, as a constant presence who left a lasting mark on
the city he called home for six decades.
“His face, his presence, was always there,” said Father
Mike Gutierrez, the pastor of St. Anne’s Catholic Church,
who led the service. “His greatest presence was his presence
of history.
“It’s important never to forget the past,” Gutierrez
said. “The past is what makes today beautiful, and we learn
that from people like Bob.”
A champion of the Santa Monica Historical Society headed by his
wife, Louise, Gabriel worked until the end to ensure the successful
opening of its museum at the new Main Library this fall, helping
to raise funds and donating $100,000.
During his last days waging a grueling battle with cancer, the
museum’s opening remained foremost on his mind, friends said.
Jean McNeil-Wymer, who co-chairs the museum’s fundraising
effort, recalls visiting Gabriel at the hospital and asking him
how he was.
“How much have you brought in for the historical society
today?” she said Gabriel asked her. “This is my last
gift for Louise.”
Former mayor Nat Trives, who knew Gabriel for more than 50 years,
also shared his friend’s passion for the museum during their
final moments together.
“I assured him that the Historical Society project would
be a huge success and that it would be brought in on schedule,”
said Trives, who sits on the museum board.
“His eyes showed me a glimmer that showed me he understood
what I said and that he was pleased,” Trives said. “We’re
going to make this thing happen.”
If friends recalled a dedicated crusader who did everything for
a cause, family members recalled a loving husband, father, grandfather
and brother.
His daughter, Susan Potter, recalled how her father would take
her from room to room after the frightened girl would leave her
bed to assure her there were no monsters in the house. It happened
often, and he never tired of doing it, she said.
“He had a wonderful way of just being, and he was just awesome,”
Potter said. “He was always there. He was my go-to man. Rest
well, dad. You were a gentle man and a gentleman.”
“He was my shoulder. He was my rock,” said his daughter
Sharyl Scydlik. “He was loving caring, welcoming, strong,
yet gentle, firm, yet always fair, kind, tolerant, patient and,
hardest of all, forgiving. . . He was an eternal optimist.”
Gabriel’s grandson, Patrick Potter, wasn’t sure what
he would say in his eulogy until the words suddenly came at 5 in
the morning. He decided to read the Eagle Scout code of honor his
grandfather always lived by.
“He was a man who kept his word,” Potter said. “When
he said he would do something, he did it.”
Jim Reidy remembered his fellow City Council member as a loyal
man “whose word was his bond.”
“He was a quiet man,” said Reidy, who served with Gabriel
on the council in the 1970s. “I never heard him say a word
in anger. Bob accepted me with all my flaws. He accepted me, and
he always stood by me. So long my friend.”
If there was one thing that could get Gabriel going it was local
politics, friends said.
Former Police Chief James T. Butts, Jr. first met Gabriel at the
groundbreaking ceremony for a local hotel shortly after he assumed
the post as Santa Monica’s top cop in 1992. Gabriel pulled
him aside.
“He spoke fast, like a record on 78 or a blender on high,”
said Butts, who now heads security for Los Angeles area airports.
“My wife asked, ‘What did he want?’
“It was noisy and he spoke kind of fast,” Butts told
her. All he could make out, Butts said, was something “about
a guy named Myers, bums, SMRR and City Council.”
Gabriel, Butts would soon learn, was talking about former City
Attorney Bob Myers, a champion of the homeless who was a member
of Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR) the powerful
tenants group that has controlled local politics for most of the
past quarter century.
"This is a loss," Butts said. "This is a pillar
of the community that is no longer with us. I'm proud to celebrate
his life and grateful he walked among us."
City Council member Bob Holbrook, a former mayor who helped wrest
control from SMRR a decade ago, recalled Gabriel’s long-time
friendship.
“He was smart, caring, patient and unselfish,” Holbrook
said. “Bob set the mark on how I should live my life.”
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