Crash proves fatal to Yakima Symphony trumpet player

YAKIMA, Wash. — Geoff Gilbert, a regular trumpet substitute in the Yakima Symphony Orchestra, got a chance to play with one of his mentors when he filled in at the orchestra's Jan. 30 concert.

And John Harbaugh, the symphony's lead trumpet player and a former teacher of Gilbert's at Central Washington University, made it a point to tell Gilbert how much he enjoyed playing side by side with him.

"He was well liked by everyone," Harbaugh said Wednesday.

Gilbert, who lives and teaches in Chehalis, Wash., died early Tuesday after the motorcycle he was riding rear-ended a pickup on Interstate 5. He was 42.

He had directed the WF West High School band in Chehalis for four years. His wife, Angela Gilbert, directs the school's choir. She is also a French horn player in the Yakima Symphony Orchestra. They have an 8-month old daughter and two other children.

Gilbert's death sent ripples throughout the state's music community.

"Our organization is very close," said YSO Executive Director Noël Moxley. "There's a lot of longevity in our office staff and our orchestra. So when something like this happens it's devastating. ... There were tears in our office yesterday."

Harbaugh described Gilbert as an "extremely hard-working" student and said he uses Gilbert's student thesis on the Hindemith Sonata as a teaching tool in CWU classes.

"Every student reads that before they learn the piece," Harbaugh said.

This is the second time in three years that the Yakima Symphony Orchestra has lost one of its own to a traffic crash. In February 2007, violist Angela Svendsen was killed in an I-5 crash caused by a wrong-way driver.

* Pat Muir can be reached at 509-577-7693, or pmuir@yakimaherald.com.