By KATY SAVAGE
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SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — Neale Gilson was seen in Bellows Falls just about everyday. He collected cans on the roads. He frequented the Rockingham Free Public Library, the bookstore, the bank and the town clerk’s office. Gilson was a talkative and social man, friends say.
“He was a big presence in Bellows Falls,” Rockingham Select Board member Susan Hammond said.
Gilson, 69, died overnight Tuesday. Police found him dead in a culvert at Springfield Hospital Wednesday around 9 a.m after the Country Village Community Care Home, where he lived, reported him missing around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Country Village declined to comment. Springfield Hospital also declined to comment.
Gilson was seen all over the place by locals. One of his favorite places to go was Dairy Joy for ice cream.
“We’ve known this man for a long time and he’s a gentle, kind person,” resident Susan Smith said.
Gilson visited the town clerk’s office, looking for Green Up Day bags, even when it wasn’t Green Up Day, said Select Board member Doreen Aldrich, who formerly worked in the town office.
He gave away coupons and collected cans.
“He looked forward to the end of the day—he always bought himself a soda,” Aldrich said.
Gilson had a mental illness, those who knew him said, but Gilson was also a “brilliant” man.
“He could tell you anything about World War II,” said Jane Capron, his former hairstylist.
Gilson liked discussing philosophy and studying guitar music.
He graduated from the former Windham College in Putney in 1978 with a degree in psychology, according to an alumni page.
Gilson was also a writer. He wrote Capron several poems about styling hair, she said.
More notably, Gilson won fourth place in the Louise Wahl Creative Writing Contest for a poem he wrote called, “A Time To Recover.”
Gilson said in the poem that he was a patient in recovery at Rockingham Memorial Hospital.
“A hospital’s components are many,” Gilson wrote. “But from head administrator to custodian, that team is playing to win. They are all on my team and the game will be won when I am well again,” Gilson wrote.
The poem was published in Counterpoint in 2005.
Police said Gilson was in Springfield for a medical appointment at Springfield Hospital that was actually scheduled in Rockingham. Gilson was last seen near a bus at Springfield Hospital.
Gilson’s closest relative is a cousin in Florida, Springfield Police Chief Doug Johnston said. Police said Gilson’s medical condition and the cold temperatures could have been factors in Gilson’s death.
“Hypothermia was something to be considered, but until we get an autopsy report back I’m not going to speculate,” Johnston said.
Police are awaiting autopsy results, which could take up to eight weeks.
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