Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, a conservative Republican from Western Maryland, said Gilchrest "always acted with political courage and personal decency to support what he believed was in the best interests of our country."
Asked what he achieved in Congress, Gilchrest demurs.
"I don't know if the word achievement is that appropriate to a member of Congress who legislates with 434 other people," he said. "It's a continuum. I didn't solve the climate change issue. I didn't solve the energy issue. I didn't stop the war in Iraq. I didn't create peace in the Middle East. Good people can make advances in those areas. ... You get in there and continue the struggle."
Gilchrest plans to continue the struggle from outside of Congress. He is scheduled to speak this month at a meeting of Americans and Iranians interested in diplomacy between their countries. He is working with a group to develop an ecologically sound plan to farm the land around Turner's Creek. In the longer term, he wants to continue to advocate for the environment.
"I would just like to - and I will, in some way - pursue policy that takes a deeper view of long-range planning," he said. "For example, economic growth is a term that doesn't apply anymore if we want to have a good economy a hundred years from now. You can't continue to grow an economy where your resources are being depleted so future generations won't have the kind of the air that they need to exist, or the land, or the agriculture."
For now, Gilchrest is in a transition that he says feels natural. He says he felt no sadness when he cast his final votes or packed up his offices. As a platoon leader who was seriously wounded in Vietnam, he gained perspective on life early. While a member of the House, he avoided the Washington cocktail party circuit to spend evenings at home with his wife and three children.
"I'm probably not going to miss anything about Congress," he said. "Really. I've done it, it's over, that's good, now I move on. In other words, I'm not going to sit at home at night watching C-SPAN, wishing I was on the House floor.
"You finish, like when you're done with breakfast, and then you move on to the rest of the day."
