Katherine Eloise Johnson Gibson, of Silsbee, passed away on March 27, 2008 in Richardson, Texas. Eloise was the widow of Charles Wellington Gibson to whom she was happily married for seventy years.
Born in Sabine Pass on November 1, 1914, Eloise was the daughter of Dick Dowling Johnson and Winnie Garrett. Her great grandfathers, Benjamin Johnson and Jacob Harmon Garner, both veterans of the Texas Revolution, were early settlers of Sabine Pass and her grandfather, Bradley Johnson, was a Civil War veteran who fought at Shiloh and Pea Ridge. After watching the Battle of Sabine Pass from their rooftop, Eloise’s favorite grandmother, Molly, named Eloise’s father Dick Dowling Johnson after the Lieutenant who led forty-six Confederate soldiers to victory against an invasion of over 5,000 Union troops. The family lived in Sabine Pass for a century before dismantling the family home and moving it to Beaumont, forced out of the area by too many hurricanes.
After Charles retired from a lifelong career with Sun Oil, he and Eloise made their home in Silsbee, where they lived out many happy years of retirement growing vegetables, feeding the birds and traveling the world. In Silsbee, they enjoyed so many wonderful friends and neighbors. They took over fifty cruises together, traveling to Russia, China, Europe, Alaska and the Caribbean. Eloise was a loving mother and grandmother with a sharp wit and keen sense of humor who could be counted on to show up at any family occasion with a tub full of homemade chocolate chip cookies (with or without nuts to make everyone happy). She will be missed but her family is grateful for the long and full life she was so very blessed to live.
She is survived by her three sons, Mike Gibson and wife Peggye of Houston, Robert Gibson and wife Kathy of Richardson, Pat Gibson of Austin, five grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Graveside services will be 1:00 P.M., Saturday, April 5, 2008 at Memory Gardens, Nederland under the direction of Broussard’s, 490 Cemetery Road, Silsbee.
Memorial Contributions may be made to First United Methodist Church, 670 N. 5th Street, Silsbee, Texas 77656
