Pete Gibbs

Donald Peter (“Pete”) Gibbs, the younger of two sons of Dr. Donald Sydney and Juanita Boger Gibbs, born on the 18th day of November 1948 in Mackenzie, Br. Guiana, passed away on Friday, the 18th day of September 2015 at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, following an extended illness.

Pete and his family moved from Br. Guiana in 1949 to a small village in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York where his father established a medical practice as a general practitioner. As a child Pete often accompanied his father on house calls to the many rural farms surrounding their home in the Catskills. In 1957 the family moved to Ft. Worth, Texas where Pete attended Paschal High School and was elected President of the “Lineage of Barons" service club. Upon graduating high school Pete entered Tulane University in New Orleans and later transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, where he received his Bachelor of Science degree with Honors in 1970. While at Tulane and the University of Texas Pete was a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity. After graduating, Pete formed a small plastics manufacturing business called Custom Plastics in Austin which he relocated to Houston in 1972. It was in May 1975 that Pete met the love of his life Diane Frank who he married on August 1, 1976 and who remained his beloved and cherished wife and companion for thirty-nine years to the moment of his passing.

By the 1980’s Pete had built Custom Plastics into a very successful manufacturing firm which constructed all sorts of plastic vacuum-formed product parts extending from bus interiors to fire extinguishers. Pete designed and built many of the complex machines used in the business and assembled over the years the most loyal and committed group of employees imaginable, many of whom have remained with the business throughout most of its existence. In 1990 Pete sold the business to a publicly held company, Vallen Corporation, and was to remain as Plant Manager for a period of five years to ensure a successful transition. Instead, Pete was persuaded by Vallen to stay with the company indefinitely and he did so until the present, assisted for some thirty-seven years by his cousin and Production Manager, Gerald Payne.

From childhood Pete’s two passions included both all things mechanical and his dear family. Pete was among the first boys in his Ft. Worth neighborhood to build from scratch a go-cart using a two-and-a-half horsepower Briggs and Stratton engine and which ran at over 45 miles per hour. He purchased, completely rebuilt and raced motorcycles at venues throughout Texas and other parts of the country. Pete likewise built from the ground up and from thousands of parts a beautiful black and silver Shelby Cobra automobile which he dearly loved and shared with other Cobra enthusiasts and members of the Houston Cobra Club with whom he often spent time. In his business Pete designed and built injection molding machines and other devices used in his company’s plastics vacuum forming over its forty plus years of operation. There was virtually nothing mechanical that Pete could not create and operate.

Pete was a person of extraordinary intellect and while modest to a fault when it came to his own accomplishments he was quietly proud of the fact that on an impulse he took the Mensa examination sponsored at Rice University and received an extraordinarily high score. He became a member of Mensa. Shortly afterward, at a party marking his new “Mensa” status, Pete received a fair amount of good natured roasting from his many friends in attendance. But underlying it all was the unspoken admiration and affection felt by all his family and friends for Pete’s endearing qualities: honesty, loyalty, humor, and above all, his good and loving nature—all against the backdrop of his intelligent and solid insights into life.

Pete loved and constantly listened to music, and music of many styles and eras. From the classical country of Johnny Cash to the wistful pop of Chad & Jeremy; from Iggy Pop to the Everly Brothers, all lie side-by-side on Pete’s Ipod.

One thing was always clear, however: Pete’s greatest love in life was his wife Diane and his two sons Brad and Matt. In nearly all things Pete kept his world simple. To this end virtually all Pete’s time away from work was devoted to his family—he thus provided a strong guiding life force to all of them and gave great advice at critical moments in their lives. For all this Pete was rewarded in part by seeing his sons happily married to Stacey and Tabby and, most recently, in experiencing the birth of his granddaughter Parker.

So from all this, it naturally follows that the family remembers Pete best for his wonderful and often quirky sense of humor and his deep and unconditional love, loyalty and devotion to each of them, given by Pete in unique and personal ways.

Pete is survived by his loving wife Diane and their two sons, Donald Bradley Gibbs and wife Stacey Simmons Gibbs, and Matthew Robert Gibbs and wife, Tabatha Kokoska Gibbs and their daughter Parker Helene Gibbs; and by his brother Robin Christopher Gibbs and wife, Lela; together with his two nieces, Stephanie Gibbs Fertitta and husband, Julian III, and their two sons Julian Joseph Fertitta IV and Gibbs Grayson Fertitta; and by Sydney Gibbs Ballesteros and husband Matthew, and their son Ronin Lux Ballesteros.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from six o'clock until eight o'clock in the evening on Friday, the 25th of September, in the library and grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

The funeral service is to be conducted at two o’clock in the afternoon on Saturday, the 26th of September, in the Jasek Chapel of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

Following the service, all are invited to join the family for a reception at a venue to be announced during the service.

In lieu of customary remembrances, contributions in Pete’s memory may be directed to Star of Hope, P.O. Box 1505, Houston, TX 77251-1505; and to Memorial Hermann Life Flight, Memorial Hermann Foundation: Attn: Life Flight, 929 Gessner St. Suite 2650, Houston, TX 77024.