People Archives - AZ Writer

Van Gilbert

ENR Southwest, January 2021

Every story has unique challenges and satisfactions. That’s perhaps most so with stories celebrating a life’s work. In this case, New Mexico architect Van Gilbert was awarded a Legacy Award for the Southwest Region by Engineering News Record, the country’s premier construction industry magazine. For more than 40-plus years, Van, now retired, combined his love for the topography, history and culture of New Mexico with dedication to regional architecture and a joy of connecting communities. He says: “An architectural practice can make a broad contribution to society, a contribution that often extends beyond the building to support the complex needs and goals of communities and institutions.”

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Father’s Day Story June 2021

Ahwatukee Foothills News

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Craig Martin

ENR California, August 2020

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John Kalil and Children Continue the Tradition at Kalil

AFMA Journal, July 2020

John Kalil Jr. and his four children, John, Nick, Kaley and Michael, are the new generation at Kalil Bottling in Arizona. His brother, George, guided the company for a half century until his death in July 2019. John’s father, Fred, and his father, Frank, began the company, a national leader in beverage distribution and a private bottler, in 1948. This is a family success story that begins with John’s grandfather coming to the United States from native Lebanon when he was 12. The stories about Pancho Villa, George’s love for University of Arizona basketball in Tucson and how a young Coach Lute Olson wouldn’t’ wait the team bus for him are classics. Classic, too, is the continuing respect for George Kalil. In writing the story, I asked for John; I called him “Mr. Kalil.” One of John’s associates corrected me, saying, “Well, we still reserve that name for George.”

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Father’s Day 2020: What Dad Gave Me

Green Living, June 2020

2020 is a year of sadness and celebration, too. While all of us find different paths to meet the demands of a pandemic, we can also thank those who have helped make us aware and prepared. So, for Father’s Day, we asked 10 neighbors to recall what their dads gave them in terms of eco-sensitivity. We switched it : not providing a list of gifts to acquire for dad but a list of his gifts to us. Elizabeth Walton’s dad, Jerry, took her to Lake Erie for summer vacations, and Randy Schilling’s dad, Fritz, to Turkey Creek in Merrillville, Indiana, near Chicago: “We saw robins and woodpeckers. We saw muskrats swimming in the water. We saw snakes slithering in the grass. We saw squirrels climbing up trees chasing each other.” And Andy McCain’s dad, John, spent time with him in Cornville, north of Phoenix, at the getaway home for the late senator’s family: “Whenever anyone visited, he would go on and on about the trees on the property, especially the cottonwoods and the sycamores.”