Betty was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and friend to all. Everyone who knew her, from her grade-school classmates to her fellow nursing-home residents, were touched by her abundant sweetness and generosity.
She was born December 16, 1930 in Brooksville, Florida, the daughter of the late Bessie Carlisle Abbott Crafton and Hugh Garland Crafton.
She lived in Danville, Virginia, where she took ballet and tap lessons as a child and was an excellent student at George Washington High School and later at Averett College in Danville. Growing up, she had a dog named Spot, who fostered a life-long love of animals.
Betty met her beloved husband of 66 years, Allen Roger Gibbs, on a blind date in 1947 after he came back from serving in W.W.II. They were married on June 15, 1949 at First Baptist Church in Danville.
She worked as a kindergarten teacher’s assistant and as an office manager for the Bibb Company, but her most cherished job was at the home, where she raised three children in Elon College, Southern Pines and Greensboro. She cooked dinner every night, sewed doll clothes, and made sure that the house was always full of cats.
The Gibbs family has attended the Congregational United Church of Christ since they moved to Greensboro in 1960. Betty was always very active in the church, serving in the women’s fellowship, on various boards and councils, and volunteering for Meals on Wheels.
She was very active in the community as well. She was a member of the D.A.R. and the Greensboro Junior Women’s Club, and in later years became a volunteer and strong supporter of the Greensboro Urban Ministry, Higher Ground, and Joseph’s House, a ministry for homeless young men who had aged out of foster care.
She loved to spoil her grandchildren, who were the luckiest kids on the planet, and was always willing to provide an open heart and a listening ear to anyone in need.
Betty’s laughter and beauty lit up every room she entered, and she had a zest for life that was contagious. Every meal she ate was the best one she’d ever had, every table setting was the prettiest one she’d ever seen, and every gathering was more fun than the last. Her friends and family will miss her dearly, but will always try to savor the little things in life, just like she taught them.
Betty is survived by her husband, Roger, and their children, Hugh Allen Gibbs (Carlene), Margie Bess Gibbs Motsinger (Jay), and Nancy Jo Gibbs Prairie (Chip); grandchildren, Lindsay Jean Gibbs, Linwood Allen (Rebecca) and David Crafton Cheshire, and Camille French and Isaac Garland Prairie; her first cousins, Becky Abbott Holt, Bill Abbott, and Sara Abbott; and numerous in-laws, extended family members, and friends.
She was preceded in death by her best friends, Martha Boone Burgess and Matti Waterman.
Following a private burial, there will be a celebration-of-life service on Saturday, July 4 at 11:00 a.m. at the Congregational United Church of Christ in Greensboro, N.C., 400 West Radiance Drive. A reception will follow.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Project Bark. Online condolences can be made at www.haneslineberryfuneralhomes.com.
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