Francis Louise Gibson

Dedicated, determined, caring and fun-loving are but a few words that accurately describe Francis Louise Brooks-Gibson, affectionately called “Louise”. However, the word that best fits her life is “SURVIVOR”. Mrs. Gibson, currently 86 years-old, has lived through many challenging events and happily lived to tell the tale. One of her first trying times came when her husband of 39 years, George Irwin Gibson, a Senior Customs Officer, was diagnosed with cancer. She cared for him every step of the way until his untimely death after three years of illness. With the support of her three beautiful and successful daughters Gina, Gayle and Gill she was able to overcome this and move on from this overwhelming sadness.

In 1992 she faced one of her biggest personal medical challenges when she suffered a massive stroke. She was airlifted to Miami, Florida and made a slow but steady recovery while supported every step of the way by her family. It took lots of dedication for her to regain her ability to walk independently, write and even speak. But nowadays most people would never know how far she has come due to the miraculous full-recovery she made.

Mrs. Gibson’s perseverance again was tested when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001. She did not let this deter her. She took her diagnosis head on and got a mastectomy. She was determined not to let this disease slow her down and was ready to do what needed to be done in order to dance at her 70th birthday party that same year.

If all of this was not enough Mrs. Gibson, a firm believer in the saying that you have not passed through anything until you are dead, was accidentally shot in the leg in 2010 by a stray bullet while driving her car off of East Street. This was unexpected and is still a shock to the dedicated matriarch and avid church goer. She also faced and overcame this new experience that life had given her. In all of these experiences Mrs. Gibson has taught not only her family but also all those around to keep fighting for life and enjoy every second of it.