Ruth Natalie McGibbon

Ruth Natalie McGibbon, 90, of the Greenbriar Woodlands Community of Toms River, NJ, passed away on Thursday, October 2, 2014, at Harrogate Health Care Center, Lakewood. Ruth was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, on August 5, 1924, and was the daughter of the late William and Natalie Wallace. She grew up in North Plainfield and graduated from North Plainfield High School in 1942. After high school she attended Trenton State College which is now known as The College of New Jersey and Newark State College which is now known as Kean University. Graduating from Kean in 1946 with a degree in Elementary Education, she taught as both a kindergarten teacher as well as a nursery school teacher. In 1946, she married her high school sweetheart, Charles, who had just returned home from serving in the Coast Guard in the Central Pacific during World War II. They lived with their three children in Somerville, North Plainfield, and Martinsville. During that time she was a member of the Plainfield Presbyterian Church and the Bound Brook Presbyterian Church. Upon retiring, she and her husband, Charles, moved to Pine Knoll Shores, NC, where they lived for 17 years. During that time, she was a member of the Presbyterian Church of Morehead City, NC, and the Bogue Banks Country Club where she and her husband played many rounds of golf. In 1999, they returned to New Jersey and settled in Toms River.

Ruth was predeceased by her husband, Charles in February, 2014, and her brother Donald in September, 2014. She is survived by her children, Linda Massie and her husband, Phil, of Leesburg, FL, Kenneth McGibbon and his wife, Betsy, of Pine Knoll Shores, NC, and Nancy Palombi and her husband, Kenneth, of Toms River. She is also survived by five grandchildren – Douglas McCoy, Christopher McCoy, Michael Palombi, Timothy Palombi and Jessica Palombi; five great-grandchildren and one great-great grandson.

Relatives and friends will be received Saturday, October 11 from 9 to 11 a.m. at the D’Elia Funeral Home, 1300 Vermont Ave, Lakewood, NJ 08701. Her life will be celebrated with a memorial service at 11:00 a.m. in the funeral home. Entombment of her cremated remains will immediately follow at Ocean County Memorial Park, Toms River, NJ. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Deborah Hospital at www.deborahfoundation.org. For further information or to post a tribute online, please visit www.deliafuneralhome.com