Sharon K. Gibson

Sharon Gibson, 82, passed away on November 3, 2023 peacefully at home in Johnson County, Texas. Sharon was born on June 11, 1941 in Grand Haven, Michigan to Cornelius Kemme and Helen Dixie Walker Kemme.

Sharon grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan in Grand Haven. After her mother passed at a young age, she and infant twin siblings Shirley and Russell were cared for by the large family of aunts and grandmothers. They found their ‘real’ home when her father married Ruby Johnson whom she thought of as her mother, and they finally became a family again. She carried a life-long fear of Disney movies from an ill-timed visit to see “Bambi” shortly after her mother’s passing.

A Girl Scout, she graduated from Grand Haven High School.  Sharon saved her summer berry picking money to buy a train ticket to Texas and to pay for her tuition at her stepmother’s alma mater, St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing in Fort Worth. Throughout her career Sharon was proud to be an “old diploma school” RN due to their reputation of exceptional nursing skills.  She retired from Harris Southwest in 2008 as Emergency Room Director, where she was instrumental in the building design of the emergency room expansion.

After graduating from nursing school Sharon met and married a handsome Fort Worth fireman, Bob Gibson.  Along with two chow dogs, they began work on the little house at Possum Kingdom spending their honeymoon camped on the foundation.  Neither had any building knowledge or experience, but Sharon could research and teach herself how to do anything. A few years later she was concerned about completing the roof before the weather changed so at eight months pregnant, she joined her surprised husband on the roof.  Many happy years were spent with their young family at her precious PK welcoming family, friends, and the kid’s friends.

She created a new life personally, professionally, and financially post-divorce with an empty nest.  Sharon welcomed her children’s friends into her home as they began their young adult lives. She later pursued her existing interest in horses by taking lessons and ultimately owning five nationally ranked Morgan mares.  She was a member and board member of the Morgan Horse Club of Texas.  The Club honored with an Ambassador award.  Additionally, she retained membership in the American Morgan Horse Association and US Equestrian Foundation.

She tried to do the right thing, she cared for others, was a kind and forgiving mother, lived by the Golden Rule, was proud of her ability to behave like a lady with a bourbon in hand, and believed that an aspirin would solve most ailments.

Sharon retired with her beloved horses to her property in Johnson County, Texas where her ‘can do’ ways continued in all of her projects. She excitedly welcomed her only grandchild Bobby spending much of her early retirement years loving being his grandma. She enjoyed encouraging early reading and proudly leading the toddler on her horses.  She even fled a theatre saving him from a Disney movie deeming "Brave" as ‘too scary’.

She determinedly and bravely faced a diagnosis of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy/Corticobasal Syndrome for more than eight years, maintaining her independence for many years. The family is appreciative of the many physical, hippo, occupational, massage, and speech therapists that supported her throughout a lengthy rare neuro-degenerative disease.  She was able to stay in her own home, enjoy her deck, oversee her precious horses, and pass peacefully in her own bed. The family also extends their gratitude to caregiver Rosana Flores, CNA and her daughter Hilary Baca for the years of dutiful care and brightness they brought to Sharon’s life.

Sharon was preceded in death by her parents Cornelius & Helen Walker Kemme, stepmother Ruby Johnson Kemme, brother Russell Kemme, and ex-husband Robert B. Gibson. She is survived by her daughter Karen E. Gibson, her son Robert B. Gibson, Jr. and wife Erin of Fort Worth, sister Shirley Elliott and husband Roy of Frost, Texas, sister Betty Jean Kemme of Onaway, Michigan, grandson Robert (Bobby) B. Gibson and his mother Rebecca DeLaCerda Gibson of Fort Worth as well as Windrider Bery Sassy and Windrider Bery Classy and “service dog” Buddy.

In lieu of flowers the family requests HAY for therapy horses!

Make donations for All Star Equestrian Foundation that gave Mom the pleasure of riding extraordinarily late into her progressive disease.  https://www.allstarfoundation.org