August 23, 1928 - September 10, 2014
SPRINGFIELD - Rose Catherine Gibson, a long-time resident of the Springfield and Van Hornesville areas, passed away early Wednesday morning, September 10, 2014, at Otsego Manor. She was 86 and had lived a life of love and service.
One of 8 children, Rose was born August 23, 1928, in her aunt's home in New Marshfield, Ohio. Her parents, Mercer Logan Williams and Adelaide (Powell) Williams, were living at that time in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where Mercer was serving as the superintendent of a high school. The family moved to New Hyde Park on Long Island in 1936 when Mercer accepted a high school science and math position at Sewanhaka High School. Rose grew up in New Hyde Park, and graduated from Sewanhaka High School in 1945. Due to her interest in aviation, she chose to further her education at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, received an associate's degree, and then spent the next summer in Mexico City, Mexico, with the Quaker, American Friends Service Committee. She began studies the following Fall at Boston University, but met Charles (Bud) Frederick Gibson of Port Washington, Long Island, and she and her fiancé married October 23, 1948.
Charles and Rose joined together in the aspiration of raising their anticipated family on a dairy farm, and, in 1951, purchased a three-acre property in Huntington Station, Long Island. Charles began correspondence courses in dairy sciences at Long Island Agricultural and Technical Institute in Farmingdale, while Rose gave birth to and raised four sons: Daniel, William, James and Douglas. In 1958, Rose and Charles sold their Long Island property and moved to Springfield. Charles "interned", working for the Cope family dairy farm for one year, and then as a mechanic for Beadle & Company, Inc. in Richfield Springs while they sought out their "Rosebud" farm, which they finally acquired on Wiltse Hill between Van Hornesville and Springfield in October 1960.
Upon moving to Springfield, Rose became an active and faithful member of the First Presbyterian Church of East Springfield, first serving as a Sunday School teacher and singing in the choir. Rose continued to serve the church for nearly 50 years in many capacities. A highlight was serving as a delegate to General Assembly in Chicago, Illinois, during the tumultuous late 1960s.
In Van Hornesville, Rose was a Cub Scout Den Mother, a member and one-time president of the PTO, and school board member. A charter member of the Herkimer County Mental Health Association Auxiliary, she served for over 30 years with this organization which sponsored events and gathered gifts for mentally challenged children at group homes throughout Herkimer County. She was also a member of the National Alliance for Mental Illness.
Upon the sale of the "home" dairy farm in 1982, Rose worked briefly as a teacher's aide in the Springfield Central School, and then accepted a position in 1984 assisting in the Resource Room at Owen D. Young Central School, where she helped students with reading and other course needs under four teachers until 1992.
Upon her husband's death in 1992, Rose began to serve at the Duvall Home for Mentally Challenged in Glenwood, Florida, which was strongly affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, during the winters until 2006. She also delivered Meals on Wheels for the Town of Springfield for several years, until her stroke in 2007. Through the Otsego Land Trust, Rose established a conservation easement on 200 acres of their farm in order to preserve its natural characteristics.
In 2007, Rose moved to Hampshire House in Oneonta to be near several family members. While living there, she adopted and was adopted by the First United Presbyterian Church of Oneonta, The "Red Door" Church, which she faithfully attended and served at until June 2014, when she moved to Otsego Manor.
In fulfillment of Rose's desire to continue to serve humanity she has donated her body for medical education and research; her brain has been accepted by Harvard Medical School and her body has been received by the Albany Medical College Anatomical Gift Program.
Rose was preceded in death by her parents, as well as three of her sisters, Dorothy Wilson, Joanne Pearsall, and Margaret Belger; two of her brothers, Richard Williams and Mercer L. Williams, Jr.; and a son, Douglas W. Gibson.
She is survived by her sister, Barbara LaSalle, of Oneonta; a brother, David Williams, of Bellmore, Long Island; and her sons and their wives and grandchildren: Daniel and Judith Gibson of Ballston Lake and their children, Katie and Charlie, William and Jan Gibson of Cooperstown and their son, Will, and his wife, Emily, and their children Eva and Patrick, James Gibson and his children, Jennifer, Jacob and Rose and her children, Aaliyah and Cory, and Douglas' wife, Jacqueline, and their sons, John and Chris, and many beloved nephews and nieces.
A Memorial Service is planned for 11 a.m. on Saturday, October 4, 2014, at the First Presbyterian Church of East Springfield.
In lieu of flowers, Rose's family respectfully requests that memorial donations be directed to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, "NAMI - Otsego County Inc.", 3141 County Highway 11, Hartwick, NY 13348, the First Presbyterian Church of East Springfield, P.O. Box 122, East Springfield, NY 13333 or the First United Presbyterian Church, 2 Walling Avenue, Oneonta, NY 13820.
Arrangements are under the care and guidance of the Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home in Cooperstown.
If you would like to send condolences to the family, send an email to Connell, Dow & Deysenroth. We will forward your comments to the family. If you would like to send flowers in memory of the deceased, contact Mohican Flowers at (607) 547-8822, or A Rose is a Rose at (607) 264-3100.