__NOTOC__ V. C. Gilbert (May 28, 1901 – May 3, 1984), also known as Jack Gilbert, was an American

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

best known for writing the popular songs " Shifting Whispering Sands" and "Chapel by the Sea", in collaboration with his wife, Mary Hadler. Both songs were written in the 1950s, and were recorded and played around the world. He was born Vivian Clark Gilbert in

Spearfish, South Dakota Spearfish (Lakota: ''Hočhápȟe'') is a city in Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 12,193 at the 2020 census, and was estimated to be 13,282 in 2023, making it the 11th most populous city in South Dakota. Spearfi ...

, moving to

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

in 1924. He worked as a carpet layer and as a commercial fisherman on the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...

. He and his wife began writing songs in the late 1940s. "Sands" was based on one of his personal experiences, and "Chapel" was reminiscent of a time when the Gilberts lived on

Sauvie Island Sauvie Island is in the U.S. state of Oregon, originally named as Wapato Island or Wappatoo Island. It is the largest island along the Columbia River, at , and one of the largest river islands in the United States. It lies approximately north ...

, near Portland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, V. C. Songwriters from Oregon 1901 births 1984 deaths People from Spearfish, South Dakota 20th-century American songwriters