John Patrick Gibbs

John Patrick Gibbs, retired physician and rancher, passed away on Monday, July 12th at the age of 73.

John was born on March 17th, 1948, in Tecumseh, Nebraska. He grew up working as a cowboy on his family ranches in the sandhills of Nebraska and in Tecumseh. He attended Elk Creek and Tecumseh high schools, where he graduated with the class of 1966, before moving to Lincoln to study Chemical Engineering at the University of Nebraska. Four years later, he was awarded his B.S with High Distinction, which led him to Houston, Texas as an employee of Shell Oil Company. It was there that he met and fell for Elise Buras, whom he married in 1973.

A few months after getting married, John started medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston and graduated in 1976. He then did a year of residency in internal medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, before following his father’s footsteps into the US Navy, where he served as a flight surgeon aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. His active-duty role in the service ended in 1980, just as his daughter, Caroline Michelle Gibbs, began her role in his life as his pride and joy.

John then went to work as Assistant Medical Director for Ethyl Corporation in Houston, Texas for 10 years and earned his Board Certification in Occupational Medicine. He then accepted the position of Corporate Medical Director for Kerr-McGee in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where he worked until 2006, when he retired as the Vice President of Employee Medical Services.

Despite being officially retired, John continued to work as a consultant and a mentor for the many people whose careers had overlapped with his over the years. He decided to return to the life he had loved as a child and purchased a small ranch in Wimberley, Texas, where he raised horses, goats, and llamas. As had been the case for most of his life, he was never without the companionship of a beloved dog. One of his best memories of his time in the Navy was travelling the world, and he continued to travel for as long as his health allowed.

Whether at home or abroad, he spent as much of his time as he could with friends and family. Those two groups are not mutually exclusive and they all mourn his passing, even as they remember with love the time they had with him in life. He will be sorely missed by all who had the good fortune to have known him.

John is predeceased by his parents, Keith and Myrtle Gibbs, survived by his wife of 47 years, Elise, his daughter and son-in-law, Caroline and Dustin Mc-Cuistion, his brother and sister-in-law, Dennis and Tammy Gibbs, his nieces Emily Gibbs and Katie Ku, his grand-nephew Dylan Ku, and more friends than can be named.