James T Gibson

In 1981, after another severe stroke, my great grandfather (William Osba Gibson; 91 years old) decided he wanted to assign his Bibles to his only great grandchildren. He attempted to hand write a note in each but his writing was very difficult to read, so Auntie sat by him to transcribe on a separate piece of paper, to also keep for her thorough documentation. It was soon after his passing that Auntie, my great aunt Helen presented each of us with the Bibles.

His thinking was that he wanted to give the youngest great grandchild his oldest Bible and then he continued the pattern in gifting the rest of his Bibles for my brothers. The Bible I was gifted was his father's, James T Gibson's. Its copyrighted 1907 and it was noted in the Bible that my great, great grandmother Sarah E. Sovine Gibson purchased the Bible from a Jef Roberts in 1908 as a gift for her husband.

James T Gibson passed in 1923. (Here's his family picture with him as the patriarch, in a post from August 2010.) My great grandfather's mother, Sarah then gave the Bible to him on June 8, 1927. He took amazing care of it. When he gifted it to me, the binding was somewhat broken and you could see it hanging on by threads, literally. I treasured the Bible and have taken pretty good care of it. Upon opening it around 2000, the top cover broke off, but I keep the pieces together, torn as to what I should do to preserve it. Until the last couple of years, before pulling it out of a keepsake cabinet that belonged to my grandfather Gerald Lumbard to place on our mantle, I resisted opening it, hoping to keep it safe.

It's funny how the meaning of the gift has transformed and developed over my years. W.O. Gibson's notes to me have different meaning to me than they did when I was 6 or so.

To me:

"To Vicky, This was your great great grandfather Gibson's bible. Please accept this as a guide for your life."

This was the same great grandfather that would play tricks on me by distracting me and then placing money in trinkets and furniture of mine, to discover later. I found $10 in a trinket box once. Another time I found $20 in a top drawer of my chest of drawers. I was able to track the $10 back to him but never ever able to prove the other surprises from him. Some would consider the money the most awesome gifts passed on, and perhaps I would have if I considered it at a younger age, but can I tell you that having his father's Bible has proven to be the most valued gift I received from him, beyond his unconditional love. I hope he knows that.

Here are his notes to my brothers and the Bibles he passed on to them.

"To Jeff, This was given to me by your grandmother Evelyn Lumbard in 1980. I hope this bible will mean as much to you as it has to me."

"To Danny, I have completely worn out 3 bibles and the Bible has been a great help to me all thru my life."

"To Philip, I hope you will cherish and live by it as much as I have."