Donald Sydney Gibbs

1914 - 2010

Donald Sydney Gibbs, a family practitioner, passed away Sunday, Oct. 10, 2010, in Houston. Fulfilling a wish to celebrate his 96th and final birthday, he departed this life one hour after enjoying cake and candles with his family in his room. Funeral: 2 p.m. Thursday in the Jasek Chapel of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston, where the Rev. John R. Bentley Jr. of St. Martin's Episcopal Church, will officiate. Following the service, all are invited to join the family for a reception at a venue to be announced during the service. Arrangements in Houston are entrusted to Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, The Funeral Directors - Since 1936, 713-789-3005. Donald Sydney Gibbs, M.D., was the youngest of four children of Alfred Sydney and Eleanor Beatrice Gibbs, born Oct. 10, 1914, in London, England. He was educated at Hurstpierspoint College, Sussex, England. While pursuing his pre-medical degree in Philadelphia, he met Juanita Boger, whom he married in 1938 and who remained the love of his life until her passing 68 years later. Following their marriage, Don and Juanita returned to England just prior to World War II where he entered St. Mary's Medical School, University of London. They both endured the bombing raids on the suburbs of London where they lived during the war. Juanita served as an air raid warden in the civil defense of London. Upon graduating from medical school in 1943, Don entered the Royal Army Medical Corps where he served as captain and medical officer. Following the war, Don and Juanita lived in Mackenzie, British Guiana, where Don served as an army medical officer from 1946 to 1949. It was there that his two sons, Robin and Pete, were born. In 1949 they returned to the States and settled in a small town in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York where he entered private medical practice as a family practitioner. During the evenings he drove countless miles to make house calls and treat patients in remote surrounding areas unable to travel to his office in town. In 1957 Don and Juanita moved to Fort Worth, where Don continued his family practice for nearly 30 years. He was a member of the American Medical Association, charter member of the Academy of Family Physicians, president of the Tarrant County Heart Association, chief of staff of John Peter Smith Hospital and chief of staff of the Fort Worth Children's Hospital. While in Fort Worth, Don actively supported the arts and the development of the Fort Worth Community Theater. He often appeared alongside Juanita in major stage play roles in the community theater productions. In 1983 he moved to Houston to be closer to his children and joined Baylor College of Medicine as an assistant professor, a position he held until his retirement in 1993. During his tenure at Baylor, Don provided indigent patients with medical care at Baylor-supported county clinics. The family remembers him as a person of limitless kindness and caring toward all others. In his quiet and compassionate way, he led his family's four generations through the example of his deep love for all of them. In recent years, one of his greatest joys was the time he had with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He spent many happy hours treating them to lunches and playing their favorite games. The family would like to express their appreciation for the love and care provided by Don's caregivers, Marie Williams, Miriam Thomas and Ruby Fretty. Survivors: Sons, Robin Christopher Gibbs and wife, Lela, and Donald Peter Gibbs and wife, Diane; sister, Patricia Clark, age 98, who lives in Ascot, England; grandchildren, Stephanie Gibbs Fertitta and her husband, Julian Fertitta III, Sydney Gibbs Ballesteros and her husband, Matthew Ballesteros, Donald Bradley Gibbs and Matthew Robert Gibbs; and great-grandchildren, Julian Joseph Fertitta IV, Gibbs Grayson Fertitta and Ronin Lux Ballesteros.