JACQUELINE GIBSON

1917 ~ 2019

Our beloved mother, Jacqueline Collette (nee Swinney) Gibson passed away peacefully at the Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, at the grand age of 102 years. Jackie was born in Fort McLeod on January 29, 1917, and raised in the farming and ranching community of Pincher Creek, surrounded by her parents, both sets of her loving grandparents, many cousins, aunts and uncles. She loved the farming and ranching life, as it afforded freedom to ride the open prairies, and get into all kinds of fun and mischief with her many cousins. Jackie was a great dancer, horse back rider, learned piano and violin, and was a consummate seamstress, an art she learned from her mother, Vernal. Her rose garden was often admired in Medicine Hat and she loved to get out every spring to help all of her flowers grow. She fell in love and married Herbert Douglas Gibson on August 23, 1939, and sent him many care packages and letters during his time of service in WWII. They loved each other very much until his death in 1979. As a mom, she loved to sew for her two adventurous daughters, Vicki and Kelly, play clothes and dresses for their Sunday best. She saw to it that her girls always had what they needed, even curling their hair with old fashioned hairdressers’ curling irons, and encouraged their talents with music, art lessons, guidance in sewing and fine needlework, church activities and was our Primary teacher in the LDS faith. To this day we use those talents. Always busy, Jackie loved her friends and neighbours and was always ready to help them out when called upon.

Mother was an advocate of animals rights and their welfare. So concerned that she once took a man to court for beating his little pony who was unable to pull a fully loaded rock sled. She won the case! Always a fighter for good, mother never gave up on anything. Even at 102, she held her own. On the day before her passing she had got up, dressed and walked out to her favourite sitting chair at Legacy Lodge, to read and watch the weather out of the garden window. She will be deeply missed by all who knew her. We would like to extend our gratitude and thanks to the Legacy Lodge staff who tenderly tended to mom and all her needs for the past 5 years. They are exceptional! She is survived by her two daughters, Vicki Kathleen Gibson of Lethbridge, AB, and Kelly Allisandra Groom of Roberts Creek, BC. as well as her grandson, Neil Groom of Roberts Creek, BC. Jackie was predeceased by her husband, Herbert Gibson; her mother, Vernal Swinney; father, John P. Swinney; baby sister, Mary Leah Swinney as well as many family and friends who loved her. A Celebration of Jacqueline’s life will be held at Cook Southland Funeral Chapel, 901 – 13 Street S.W., Medicine Hat on Saturday, May 11, 2019, at 2:00 p.m. Interment will follow at Hillside Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please donate to mom’s favorite charities for nature and animals; the Helen Schuler Nature Centre, Indian Battle Road South, Lethbridge or your local SPCA. (Condolences may be expressed by visiting our website at www.cooksouthland.com). Honoured to serve the family is

Cook Southland Funeral Chapel, 901 – 13th Street S.W. Medicine Hat, Alberta T1A 4V4 Phone 403-527-6455