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Obituary

A practical joker with a famous name

George J. Gibson: 1922-2005. George J. Gibson's family is the source of Gibsonton's name. He died recently at 83.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published January 27, 2006

RUSKIN - George J. Gibson was a normal, hard-working family man who loved the outdoors and was known as a practical joker.

He just had a famous family name. Everyone in the Tampa Bay area and people all over the country in the circus and carnival industry know it.

Mr. Gibson, who died on New Year's Eve at age 83, was a member of one of central Hillsborough County's pioneering families. His grandfather settled along the Alafia River in the 1880s, and his father was the developer of Gibsonton, the town that still bears the family name.

"From the history we've been able to piece together, my father's grandfather came to the Alafia River about 1882," said Jeff Gibson, the son of George Gibson. "His name was James Gibson Sr. And my father's father, my grandfather, was a lawyer, and he developed what is now Gibsonton."

Oddly, though, no one from the Gibson family has lived in Gibsonton for many decades.

In fact, the family never really felt a strong connection with Gibsonton. The family moved into Tampa's Hyde Park when George Gibson was a young child, and the suburban family didn't have much in common with the rural area that became known as a home for carnival workers.

George Gibson attended Plant High School and graduated just before the United States entered World War II. He joined the Navy and served in the Mediterranean and in the South Pacific.

His military career was singularly undistinguished, his son said. He served honorably but never received a single promotion and never endeared himself to his commanding officers.

"He said he was always in trouble with his superiors because he was always playing practical jokes," Jeff Gibson said. "He knew he wasn't going to make the military his career. He was just there for the war. He wanted to serve his country."

After the war, he returned to Tampa and married a local girl named Doris. They had two children, a son and a daughter, 16 years apart, and lived in Hyde Park and Palma Ceia. In the 1980s, they moved to Apollo Beach for a few years and then to Ruskin, where Mr. Gibson lived the rest of his life. Mrs. Gibson died about eight years ago.

"Both my mom and my dad, I couldn't have asked for a better set of parents," Jeff said. "We didn't have a lot, but we never wanted for anything. They scrimped and saved enough to send me to private schools all my life, and even sent me to college on a single income."

Mr. Gibson spent his career as a locomotive operator at Gardenier Phosphate. He spent most of his spare time outdoors, usually hunting or working in his garden. He had been an avid hunter since he was a boy and would take long trips in Florida's wilderness with his family.

"He particularly loved quail hunting," his son said. "I think that's how he got close to his father. When his father was old and couldn't move, my father would carry him out to the woods on his shoulders so they could hunt together."

The outdoor life, mostly in the days before sunscreen was popular, may have taken its toll. Mr. Gibson died of skin cancer.

Mr. Gibson is survived by his son and daughter Janet Taylor, companion Marvene "Marty" Hanson, two brothers, a sister, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

[Last modified January 26, 2006, 09:02:05]