“WHO WAS JOHN GIBSON?“

by Garry Harrison

I am proud that I am able to say I knew John Gibson.

The first time I met him, it took less than a minute to realize that he was special. He was an original; a sort of leader in that he was the type of person that others would like to be like. His head was “filled with worthwhile stuff.” He seemed to be able to produce those spontaneously creative ideas which those who live on life’s shallow surface never in a lifetime encounter.

He was free from the concerns generated by others’ opinions which burden so many people. His solution to this concern seemed to be to lead a life that yields nothing to hide. But this is not to say he ignored the opinions of others. No, that would be ignorant. Rather, he carefully sifted out the worthwhile from the total.

Why did such a literate man make his home in such a sparsely populated, unheard of area as rural Noble, Illinois? It’s very simple, actually: because that was the environment that suited him more than any other. He saw the area as the right kind of place to raise his many children and foster children.

There were some borderlines that he walked up to but never crossed. He was private but not antisocial. He was wise but not arrogant. He was common, but he sure wasn’t ordinary.

(from “Remember Me”, John Brewer Gibson 1907-1983, Book #453, Richland County Genealogy Society, Olney, Illinois)