Doris Gibson

Doris Gibson, 90, passed away July 27, 2013.

Doris was born April 23, 1923, in Baltimore, Md. She loved baseball and attended countless Orioles games, meeting players and collecting their autographs. After high school, she worked for Blue Cross. She met and fell in love with young Navy sailor Archie Gibson and they married shortly after World War II. They settled in his home of the Panama Canal Zone. Throughout the years, they raised eight children and lived in Baltimore, Cincinnati, Syracuse, Waynesboro, Va., Erie, Penn., and Dunedin, Fla. They were married 40 years until his death in 1987. In 1994, she moved to Wasilla. Her favorite place was a rock in the Little Su in Hatcher Pass, on which she posed for numerous photos over the years.

A devoted wife and mother, she infused a love of life, travel and adventure into her children. She loved Tom Jones, ice cream, babies and animals. She was adept at crossword puzzles and cards, and passed on her love of Yahtzee and board games to her progeny. Doris voted in 18 presidential elections. She was a voracious reader who conquered “War and Peace” — twice. Because you always miss something the first time.

Doris is survived by her sons, Archie III of Roanoke, Va., James of New York City, Michael of Springfield, Va., and Christopher (Peggy) of Pittsburgh, Pa.; daughters, Patricia Mathias, Karen Punturo and Virginia (Mike) Geary, all of Wasilla, and Kathleen (Mike) Gibson-Blake of Charleston, S.C.; 21 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; and her best friend of 80 years, Doris Eckenrode of Baltimore.

A funeral Mass is planned Sept. 26 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Wasilla. Doris will be buried Oct. 24 in Palm Harbor, Fla.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you take a loved one out for ice cream.