For 20 years, Eric and Cindy Gilbertson have called the two-story, white brick Colonial at 7371 Glen Eagle Dr. home.  

It contains furniture they have bought or inherited, and a healthy collection of collectibles from her family. 

But the Gilbertsons don’t actually own the 13-room dwelling overlooking the 17th hole of the Bay City Country Club Golf Course. It came “on loan” as a perk of his job -- as president of nearby Saginaw Valley State University. 

“It feels like our house after 20 years,” admits Cindy Gilbertson. “And we feel so privileged to have lived here because it is in such a neighborhood environment and we are given an allowance to make improvements -- improvements which are left up to us, which is not always the case in university president homes.” 

The house was purchased by friends of SVSU and donated to the school in 1975, says Cindy. “It was built in 1968 and was the first home built on the street” -- which is one block from the Saginaw County line. 

The Gilbertsons watched their son and daughter grow up here and move on, and several family yellow labrador retrievers have kept them company over those 20 years. And at one end of the 5,000-square-foot home is a small greenhouse serving Cindy’s avid gardening hobby. 

The home was once on a garden tour, she says fondly. And outside the kitchen window is a rarity (not visible in the winter, sadly). Climbing up a huge cottonwood tree is a form of ivy that normally rarely blooms in the fall. Here, in this spot, if blooms profusely, attracting hundreds of bees, says Cindy. 

“Seven or eight years ago we extended the (brick)  patio to the full length of the house,” says Cindy. “It is a great space for entertaining.” 

The couple hosts upwards of 25 SVSU-related receptions, parties and dinners each year. “And as SVSU has gotten larger and larger each year, the house has not. So we do smaller, but more, gatherings. It was still a young university when we came here and there has been so much expansion.” 

Sometimes it’s a fund-raiser or to welcome a new dean, she says. “There are a lot of foreign exchange opportunities with students and professors. We’ve had delegations from India, China, Taiwan, Japan.” 

And when a person of note moves into the community to work, or a new leader of a non-profit in Midland, Saginaw or Bay Counties, the Gilbertsons host a welcome reception. 

Holiday Housewalk visitors will see some links to SVSU in the Asian art given by visiting delegations and a one-of-five  signed Marshall M. Fredericks sculpture given to them by one of his sons. 

But mostly they will see a home filled with heirlooms from her family --  Little Red Riding Hood collectibles, a rare full set of the 1800s Four Seasons figurines by Meissen, 1920s Rose Briar dinnerware from England, commemorative plates and an antique high boy. 

“My grandmother was an antique collector and I was the only grandchild who took an interest in it so she willed it all to me. There are nearly 40 Little Red Riding Hood collectibles -- pill boxes, plates, boxes, figurines.” 

Tucked somewhere also during the housewalk will be the family Christmas tree decorated with ornaments of sentimental value. And upstairs in the study is an oil painting of the couple, commemorating their performance of “Love Letters” at Pit and Balcony Community Theatre of Saginaw. 

“My favorite aspect of this house is that visitors say ‘this is just like a real home.’ I find the serenity of tradition is its strong point -- its connection of the past with the present through the furnishings and collectibles we have. It all fits together, and in our hectic schedules is a very comforting place.”