Denise M. Gibbons

Denise Marie Gibbons (ne´ Beekman) of Westwood NJ was born in Boston Massachusetts on March 7, 1950 and died on January 16,2014. Denise attended Notre Dame College in Baltimore and was trained as a Cytotechnologist at Harvard teaching hospitals in the Boston School of Cytology. She was a skilled diagnostician and worked in multiple pathology labs including laboratories in Boston, St. Louis, New York, and New Jersey. In St. Louis she started the cytology laboratory at Lutheran Hospital and brought it to full state and federal government accreditation. Denise retired from Cytology in 2004 and became involved in multiple volunteer programs including, Master Gardening, St. Andrews bereavement ministry, hospice, horticultural therapy, Hackensack Hospital volunteer program, among others. Denise was an avid gardener and golfer. She enjoyed her home in the South Carolina low country on Hilton Head Island. Denise is survived by her devoted husband Jay and three devoted sons, Brian, Matthew, and Michael, daughter in law Debra (Brian’s Wife), and three grandchildren Cailyn, Brianna, and Braydon, her two brothers Martin and Peter Beekman, and sister Josette Geldreich , her mother in law Irene Gibbons, and many brothers and sisters in law. Denise will be profoundly missed by her family and the many friends she loved. The family will receive their friends at Becker Funeral Home, 219 Kinderkamack Rd., Westwood, NJ, on Tuesday from 2-4 & 7-9PM. The Funeral Mass will be held at the St. Andrew’s RC, Westwood, NJ, on Wednesday at 10:30AM. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. 383 Main Avenue, 5th Floor, Norwalk, CT 06851.