Furman Gibbs gives to Pamlico veterans one more time

ARAPAHOE - Retired airman and proud veteran Furman C. Gibbs gave to his country and his county time after time.

"He gave more than anyone I know," Harold Dorning of Pamlico County Veterans Council told a group gathered at Pamlico Community College on Sunday.

Welcomed by Pamlico Community College Board of Trustees Chairman Charles Hardison, they were there to receive one last Gibbs' gift - his collection of 23 notebooks full of biographies of deceased Pamlico County Veterans.

The notebooks' pages include details of the lives of more than 180 veteran airmen, soldiers, sailors, and Marines, sometimes pictured solo in uniform, sometimes hugging a sweetheart. The binders spread open on two tables at the event included enlistment or discharge forms, information on tours of duty, and narratives by Gibbs on the rest of their lives.

"He would go where ever the information was, newspapers, military records, talk to a spouse or family, and recently, the Internet," said Jim White, a history professor of Pamlico Community College for five years, who began working on Pamlico veterans oral histories three years ago. "He helped me tremendously."

When Gibbs came home to Pamlico County after a 20-year Air Force career including a Vietnam tour of duty, he was home to stay.

"He was proud of Pamlico," said Susan Gibbs Paul, of Greenville, one of three daughters of Furman Gibbs who died March 27. "He traveled all over the world but came home to Pamlico where he left his final legacy."

Gibbs took a job at the phosphate plant in Aurora for 16 years and began volunteer work, in the community, at Bayboro Baptist Church, with local veteran groups.

"For the last 15 years he as been doing this research," White said. "He wanted to honor these people in some way for all they have given the country and the county."

Gibb's daughter, Pam Pegram of New Bern, said, "He wasn't happy if he wasn't doing research."

Myra Blue, dean of learning resources at the college, said, "I was really impressed with what he did. Beginning in 1993 and going through 2007, he collected the information on veterans from WW I, WW II, the Korean Conflict, Vietnam and Desert Storm.  And when there were photographs. They included proper waivers and releases from the families."

She said the information will be useful to those looking at Pamlico County's history as well as those working on family genealogy. Blue is working with military collection archivists at the N.C. Division of Historical Research with the hope of getting the records digitized for the Internet.

Four members of Pamlico Veterans Council, for which Gibbs served as chairman for many years and as vice chairman at his death, marched in uniform as the color guard for the ceremony: Dorning, Jim Paradis Jr., Dave Davis, and Andrea Davis.

They had known him well as an instrumental figure in veteran's affairs in the county, particularly in organizing Memorial Day and Veterans Day programs and securing a county veterans' memorial.

Rev. Scott Fitzgerald, of Bayboro Baptist Church where Gibbs was a deacon, said it was fitting that the dedication event was held on Father's Day to "celebrate the passion and the compassion of a father" whose words, voice and name live on.

Gibbs' widow, Jean Gibbs, said "he was a loving person" and his detailed work to document these veterans' lives and for veteran recognition was an example of that.