Former Congressman Sam Gibbons plans to marry Betty Culbreath. Both were widowed last year.
By LUCY MORGAN and DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN
Published August 3, 2004
TAMPA - Their love story is one of Tampa's worst-kept secrets.
It seems as if everyone knows that former Democratic congressman Sam Gibbons is set to marry millionaire socialite Betty Culbreath. Many just won't say it for the record.
It is, after all, supposed to be a secret.
The tale involving the widow and widower, whose longtime spouses died within a week of each other last year, is one that goes back decades: They originally dated in high school and remained friends, even as they each married other people and had children of their own.
Word is, the couple, both in their 80s, want to allow an appropriate grieving period to pass. To speak too soon would draw frowns from oldline Southerners.
The problem is, everyone knows about it and is chattering about it, even throwing around a fall wedding date.
When asked about his upcoming nuptials, Gibbons, a 17-term congressman, uncharacteristically replied: "I can't talk about that."
When asked why, he called it a "very delicate situation."
"I would get in trouble," said Gibbons, who in 40 years of public life was not known for refusing to answer reporters' questions. "I just can't do it. And I know I have never said "no comment' in my life."
Gibbons' wife of 57 years, Martha, died on Oct. 1. A week earlier, on Sept. 25, Culbreath's husband, former TECO Energy chairman H.L. Culbreath, died.
H.L. Culbreath was one of the area's most influential business leaders, whose ancestors helped establish the city. His great-grandfather settled in Tampa after the Civil War, homesteading on more than 200 acres that now bear his name in the neighborhoods of Culbreath Bayou and Culbreath Isles.
A relative said Gibbons' and Betty Culbreath's is a sweet story of how two lifelong friends just want to live out the rest of their lives together.
John Culbreath, H.L. Culbreath's brother, confirmed Monday that the couple indeed were planning to tie the knot.
"We are all in agreement with it," Culbreath said of H.L.'s family. "Betty said at our age we don't have many years to wait around."
Gibbons, Betty and H.L. Culbreath all attended Plant High School. Gibbons was a year ahead of the others, John Culbreath said.
Gibbons later led parachute troops in the D-day invasion, and served in Congress from 1962 to 1996. In 1963, as a rookie congressman, he rode with John F. Kennedy in the first presidential motorcade through Tampa, four days before Kennedy's assassination.
Gibbons, 84, recently sold his Tampa house and moved into Canterbury Tower, an exclusive upscale residence for seniors on Bayshore Boulevard. Betty Culbreath, 82, also lives in Canterbury Tower.
"I know both deceased spouses would look kindly on it," John Culbreath said.
- Times researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.
