CECILIA MAJORIE ENGLISH GRUBER, “Midge” was the daughter of Jack and Susan B. English. She was born in Seldovia on April 29, 1929.
Cecilia was always called Midge. She was short in stature, and someone in Seldovia came up with that nickname, as a shortened form of “midget”. The name stuck with her throughout her life.
She lived in Seldovia until the last two years of high school, when she went to live with her uncle’s family in Billings, Montana, and graduated from high school there.
When she returned to Seldovia, she began working part time for her mother, who was the Postmistress. It wasn’t long before she met the new bachelor in town Robert William Gruber, and they were married in April 1954.
Bob was born and raised on a ranch in Montana, but he was always fascinated with flying. He did learn to fly and he joined the U.S. Air Force in 1949, but because he didn’t have a college degree he wasn’t able to become a military pilot. After his service, he happened to be offered a job flying a plane to Homer for Paul Choquette, who had a flying service in Homer. That connection eventually led to Bob buying Paul’s service and renaming it Cook Inlet Aviation. While the business was based in Homer, Bob always lived in Seldovia. Later Bob also started a sporting goods store and both enterprises were located in a single story building on Main Stree, where Perry’s Cafe now sits.
Midge was an integral part of Cook Inlet Aviation. There were two pilots, including Bob, but Celia was the dispatcher, the radio operator, and the flight scheduler.
She also worked as a bookkeeper for a Seldovia Cannery, Sutterlin and Wendt.
Midge and Bob had three children, John and Susan, and Mary Ellen. John and Susan
Except for those two years in Montana, Midge lived in Seldovia thoroughout her 53 years.
She died, of breast cancer, in Seldovia on April 26, 1983. She is buried in the Seldovia City Cemetery in Plot #592.