Mrs. Lucy P. Gibson entered the gates of Heaven to meet her Lord and Savior on Friday, August 26, 2016. She was 94 years old. A celebration of her life will be held on Monday at Porterfield Baptist Church at 11:00 a.m. with burial in Glen Haven Memorial Gardens. The Rev. Bob Carey and the Rev. Sam Waldron will officiate. Visitation and a reception will be from 6 – 8 p.m., Sunday at Snow’s Memorial Chapel, Pio Nono Avenue. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Sanctuary Foyer Fund at Porterfield Baptist Church, 2910 Allen Road, Macon 31216 or to the American Kidney Foundation, 270 Peachtree Street, NE, No. 1040, Atlanta, GA 30303.
For sixty-four years, she was the wife of the late Jake L. Gibson who died in 2003, Mrs. Gibson was born in Telfair County the daughter of the late Joel Edward and Rose Ella Perkins. She lived a long and wonderful life. She loved her family, her church, flowers (especially azaleas) and her beautiful swans. She also loved her profession as a developer and homebuilder.
Mrs. Gibson wrote her own obituary and we share it with you here. “Lucy was 19, Jake was 22 and serving in the U. S. Air Force stationed at Eglin AFB. They were married in his sister’s living room. When she left home, she told her parents that she would write them every day and she did for five years except for two days.
When she was about three years old, her daddy gave her, her first nickel and took her to a store to spend it. She never hesitated and pointed at a nail keg. She purchased nails with her nickel that day and went home to build a bird house. She later began to notice the price of building materials and would calculate how much lumber was needed to build a house. She dreamed of building her mother a house and eventually did.
Lucy and Jake came back to Georgia and settled in Macon after his tour of service. One day while out walking, she spotted a house that had been started. It had only one door and some windows and was wrapped in black tar paper. She went home and told Jake it would be fun to purchase and complete the house. They contracted to purchase it. She purchased a set of builder’s construction manuals and the fun began! In a few months, they had a beautiful little home for their family.
A year or two later, they decided they wanted to move to the country and build another house. Shortly after that, they purchased a farm on Jones Road. They built a small house on the property during their spare time while both had full time jobs at Warner Robins Air Force Base. When one house sold, they would start another. Jake farmed and raised cattle on half of the farm and he and Lucy built houses on the other half. They became aware that building houses was more profitable than farming.
They built many homes in South Bibb County and mainly in their own subdivisions. They developed and built homes in the VonReg, Jones Road, Gibson, Greenhill, Hooper Hill, Merri Hill, Thornhill Subdivisions and homes on Juanita Drive and Chickadee Lane. Most of the streets were named after family and friends. Her family worked together for over fifty years along with her dedicated employees, Clarence Corey for fifty years and Greg Holsey for thirty-eight years. They are still employed by her family.
She and Jake were Charter Members of Porterfield Baptist Church. They conducted Children’s Church for twenty-eight years and participated in all building projects for approximately forty-five years. She also drew the plans for some of the buildings. She was also a member of the Ruth Sunday School Class at Porterfield.
During an illness, she felt that God was telling her to visit the sick and home bound. Knowing that she was God’s servant, she obeyed and loved doing that until she became too ill to continue.”
She and Mr. Gibson were founders of Gibson and Carey Development Company, Inc., co-founders of B&G Water Company, Inc. and were members of the Home Builder’s Association of Macon.
In addition to her parents and her beloved husband, Jake, Lucy was preceded in death by her precious daughter, Yvonne G. Carey.
She is survived by her son, Reginald J. Gibson (Evelyn); son-in-law, Robert S. Carey; grandchildren, Robert T. Carey, Lyndy Mayson, Wendy Taylor and Cyndy Watkins; great grandchildren, Kayla Kornegay, Bayley Yarbrough, Hannah and Ansley Watkins, Austin Taylor, Collin Carey and Luc Bennett and her great-great granddaughter, Kaylyn Kornegay.
We want to openly share our deep appreciation to the staff of Pine Pointe Hospice whose gentle and professional care has sustained us these last days.
Visit www.snowsmacon.com to share condolences.
Snow’s Memorial Chapel, Pio Nono Avenue has charge of arrangements.
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