Chomping on his ever-present, unlit stogie, Norbert E. Gilmack became a familiar figure over the decades in Chicago as a carpenter for the city, a competitive handball player and an upfront, always frank conversationalist.
Mr. Gilmack, 72, of Chicago’s Mt. Greenwood neighborhood, died of complications from diabetes and a stroke, Monday, June 27, in Little Company of Mary Hospital, Evergreen Park.
“He was an amazing carpenter because anything he built will outlast me and you and a nuclear war,” said his daughter, Lynn Nealis. “He mitered to the 28th of an inch. He was just a perfectionist.”
The son of tavern owners, Mr. Gilmack was born and raised on the city’s South Side. His performance as a pitcher on Bowen High School’s baseball team inspired him to continue in the minor leagues out of state for a time after graduation.
“According to him, he was a pitcher, who threw his arm out,” his daughter said of his decision to quit the league. “According to my mother, he got homesick.”
He had met his future wife, Therese “Terry” Pawlak, during high school and by the time they married in 1954 on Memorial Day weekend, he was working as a carpenter. In the early 1970s, he began working as a carpenter for the Park District, then later for the city.
“Norby was a master carpenter,” said Joe Flores, a fellow handball enthusiast and a retired police officer once based in the same building as Mr. Gilmack. “He worked on firehouses, police stations, all kinds of city buildings. He was a hard worker and one of those guys that if he built something he didn’t like, he would tear it up and start all over again.
“But he was a character, a stand-up, no-nonsense kind of guy and what some have said was a politically incorrect kind of guy.
“I first met him on the handball court when he came over and told me to burn my gloves and save everybody’s time.” Despite that assessment, the two became fast friends.
“If you didn’t want to hear what Norby had to say, then don’t dare to ask him, because he didn’t say something he didn’t mean,” Flores said. “You never knew what he was going to say and he was brutally honest.”
After leaving the minor leagues, Mr. Gilmack played handball in his mid 30s. He was a longtime member of the South Chicago YMCA, where he often played handball, but he excelled at the 3-wall outdoor courts at Rainbow Beach, where he played three days a week. He also participated in, and sometimes won, national tournaments.
“Norby was a dogged and determined defensive specialist,” said his son-in-law, Kevin Nealis, who met him on the handball courts 15 years before meeting and marrying his daughter. “He was most primarily a doubles player. He counted on his partner to score the points and he would provide defense. He really took to the outdoor 3-wall game, more then to the indoor 4-wall court. He was very much a competitor and a real good steady player.”
Mr. Gilmack retired from the city at age 62.
Other survivors include his wife; another daughter, Nadine O’Whene; a son, Paul; and four grandchildren. Visitation will be held from 2 to 9 p.m., Sunday, at Andrew J. McCann and Son Funeral Home, 10727 S. Pulaski Rd., Chicago. Mass will be said at 10 a.m., Monday, at St. John Fisher Catholic Church, 10234 S. Washtenaw Ave., Chicago.
