Friends, Colleagues Remember Former IEA President Terry Gilbert

Terry Gilbert was a master of Dad jokes.  

Every time he would meet someone new, former IEA President Robin Nettinga remembers, he would ask about their family and then offer to show off his “pride and joy.” He’d pull out his wallet and present a little laminated card with a picture of Pride dusting spray and Joy dishwashing soap.  

“Terry always had a way of bringing humor into a really tense situation and relieving some stress,” she remembers.  

Gilbert, who served as IEA president from 1977-1978 and died Aug. 30, is being remembered by his IEA friends and colleagues as someone who dedicated his career — and his retirement — to the equalizing power of democracy.  

“He believed in every fiber of his being that public schools and public education was the cornerstone of our democracy,” Nettinga said. “He worked tirelessly to make sure that the institution itself and the people who worked in that institution held up that democratic principle.”  

More Than a Half-Century of Care and Commitment 

Gilbert held many roles as an educator and IEA staffer. Born in Oregon, he came to Idaho to attend Northwest Nazarene University, eventually beginning his career in Marsing. After a stint in Washington, he and his wife, Carolyn, a fellow educator, returned to Idaho, where Gilbert began teaching in Nampa. He was elected president of IEA and began his term in 1977.  

After serving as president, Gilbert moved to North Dakota to serve on the staff of the state’s teachers’ union. Returning to Idaho, he joined IEA as a region director and served in Twin Falls and Meridian. He also worked as IEA’s director of organizational development. 

Nettinga first met Gilbert in the 1970s, when she was a student at South Junior High and Gilbert was a teacher. Gilbert was already involved in the union, eventually teaching in Nampa and leading the Nampa Education Association as president. Nettinga remembers Gilbert leading a strike in Nampa, where she also attended school — and being a student from a union household, she refused to cross the picket line to register for classes.  

Years later, when Nettinga was president of the Nampa Education Association and Gilbert had joined IEA’s staff, NEA went on strike again for four days. Gilbert was there for Nettinga and the rest of the striking educators: “Terry was part of the crisis team at the time, so he … was one of those lead staff members that helped us through the crisis,” she said.  

Gilbert was not afraid of diving into tricky situations, said former IEA Executive Director Jim Shackelford. Shackelford joined the IEA staff just as Gilbert’s presidency was coming to a close.  

The union was strong in numbers, Shackelford remembered, but in the throes of an identity crisis: Would it become more politically active or not?  

“Terry was very much in favor of the organization becoming more politically active,” Shackelford said.  

“He was very politically astute,” remembered former IEA Region Director Kathy Yamamoto. When situations got heated, Gilbert wouldn’t yell and scream.  

“He just very methodically and intentionally explained his side of the situation,” she said. “He was a bit of an intellectual, really.”  

Always There for the Community 

“He was always an advocate for members,” Yamamoto said. But his advocacy spilled beyond the walls of IEA headquarters. He was an active Rotarian for many years and prompted his Rotary chapter to “adopt” Taft Elementary in Boise, a high-needs school. Rotary members spent their own time and money helping students get the resources they needed to succeed in school.  

Yamamoto traced that commitment, in part, to Gilbert’s own early teaching days in Marsing, where many families were living in poverty. “He was very dedicated,” she said. “He was always the champion of kids that don’t have opportunities.” 

Nettinga, reflecting on what Gilbert taught her about the labor movement itself, said that Gilbert’s devotion to the community was inseparable from his view of solidarity.  

He taught her “how important it was that we rely on each other, lean on each other, and work together — because together, we’re stronger,” she said.  

She also credited Gilbert with pushing IEA to pay closer attention to Idaho’s public school endowment trust lands — state-held public lands that generate financial support for schools — during her tenure as president from 1997-2001.  

“Terry worked very, very hard to make sure that we paid attention to that, because he saw what was happening at the eastern end of our country, where all those public lands were being sold off, and once they’re gone, they’re gone forever,” she said.  

A Lifetime of Standing Up for What’s Right 

Gilbert was a strong proponent of the separation of church and state and civic values. He ran for the Idaho Legislature in Canyon County as a Democrat — a move Nettinga called “not a winning proposition” — but he was undeterred. Yamamoto remembers him running for the Legislature when he was serving in Twin Falls, too.  

Years after his retirement, the Democratic Party of Idaho asked Gilbert to run for superintendent of public instruction in 2022. His agenda included a $300 million initiative for public schools.  

The odds were stacked against him. A Democrat hasn’t held statewide office in Idaho since Marilyn Howard ended her tenure as state superintendent in 2007.  

“It didn’t stop him from realizing that every Idahoan deserves a choice,” Nettinga said. “He believed so strongly in a two-party system, and people having a choice.” 

Shackelford remembered hearing him speak “many times,” during that campaign, always returning to the same theme: “How important public education is, and how terrible taking money away from public education to give to private schools was … that was his belief system.”  

Gilbert lost to current Superintendent Debbie Critchfield. But Gilbert always remained undaunted, Shackelford said.  

“I found Terry to be very accommodating and full of energy and support for the cause, whatever the cause might be at the moment … he continued to be someone that everybody wanted to hear his opinion,” he said.  

What They’ll Miss Most 

“Terry was one of the most supportive people I had that I could turn to,” Nettinga said. “I’ve always felt like he was a confidant, and most importantly, I knew he was a friend. I will desperately miss his friendship and the phone calls, and the old jokes and the reminiscing.”  

When asked about his legacy, Shackelford didn’t hesitate. “He was one of the leaders that built this organization and its commitment to public and education and its drive to be politically involved and to advocate for members wherever, at whatever location they were … IEA goes back to 1892, and Terry was an important building block during the time he was a leader in the IEA.” 

“We’ve lost a good one,” Yamamoto said. “There’s no doubt about it.”