Kiwanis Club to honor retired Riverside County superior court judge

Santa Rosa, California, Press Enterprise
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_W_wgabbert12.46f5751.html

The Kiwanis Club of Riverside will honor retired Riverside County Superior Court and state appellate court judge John G. Gabbert today at its meeting at the YMCA.

"He is probably one of Riverside's most distinguished citizens," said Lewis Vanderzyl, a friend and Riverside Unified School District board member.

Gabbert will celebrate his 100th birthday in June.

Gabbert moved to Riverside with his family when his father purchased a half interest in the Enterprise newspaper in 1912. He spent his youth attending Riverside schools, including Poly High School and what is now known as Riverside City College.

He played an essential part in establishing UC Riverside. He was a founding member of the Citizens University Committee in 1950, which lobbied for the creation of the university.

Gabbert was a recipient of a Kiwanis scholarship in the 1920s, soon after the scholarship program was established, said club president Nancy Melendez.

"We just thought it would be wonderful for Gabbert to talk to the club and how it helped him," Melendez said by phone Wednesday. "Certainly he is a model to that road to success."

Gabbert said the scholarship given to him by the Kiwanis Club was a "big aid" when he graduated from what is now known as Riverside City College and went on to attend Occidental College in 1929. The scholarship allowed him to pay for two years worth of tuition, which was about $125 a semester, Gabbert recalled in a phone interview.

"I'm totally grateful for what they did," he said. He also worked as a part-time janitor at Occidental College, he said.

At today's meeting, Gabbert said he would talk about the Depression of the 1930s, and what he sees as similarities and dissimilarities to the current recession. He said both economic periods -- the Depression and the current recession – were caused by big financial bubbles.

About turning 100 in June, Gabbert said, "I have been very lucky ... Because I didn't do anything to deserve it as far as I know."

But before any big celebrations, "I have to first get there."