Frank Henry Gibbons

Chicago, IL. – Frank H. Gibbons, age 98, a long time resident of Harwood Heights and a Pearl Harbor survivor, passed away on Friday morning, January 2, 2015.

Frank was born in a DeKalb County, IL farm house on Dec. 4, 1916, to George and Amy (Williams) Gibbons, the first of four children. He was raised in the farmers tradition and worked on several farms near U.S. Route 66 in Will County, between Bolingbrook and Plainfield. On December 6, 1940, at 24 years of age, he enlisted for six years in the Navy and was trained at Great Lakes Naval Station. Shortly after arriving at Great Lakes he met the young 16 year old Ms. Sybil Johnson, of nearby Antioch, IL at a weekend Navy dance.

In July 1940, Frank boarded the USS Detroit (CL-8), a light cruiser, assigned to the Pacific Fleet based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. On December 7, 1941 the USS Detroit was docked to Ford Island, across from the USS Arizona and battleship row. She had pulled in the night before after a two week patrol around the Hawaiian Islands and was sitting high in the water because she had not yet been refueled. Frank was eating his Sunday morning breakfast when the Japanese began the attack on Pearl Harbor, thrusting the United States into WWII. Shortly after the start of the attack, the cooks came up to top deck with the butcher knifes to cut away the canvas canopies shading the top deck from the tropic sun. During the attack he was ordered by an ensign to stop throwing the empty ammo boxes overboard so they could be reused, but after the ensign left he continued to do so because he feared of being killed by wood splinters from a nearby explosion. The Detroit escorted the first convoy to San Francisco, CA bringing the war's first dead and wounded home. (Side note: The USS Detroit was the only ship in Tokyo Bay during the signing of the Japanese surrender that was at the Pearl Harbor attack. She was next to the USS Missouri when the declaration of surrender was signed.) After several convoys between Pearl Harbor and San Francisco, in April 1942, Frank was transferred to the USS Gillespie (DD-609), a tin can destroyer, a day after it was commissioned. During his two and a half years on the Gillespie he served in the Aleutian Islands, South Pacific, and Atlantic Ocean participating in convoy duty, shore bombardments, and search and rescue for downed pilots. On one mission, the Gillespie carried gold out of the Philippines for safe keeping. In September 1944, he was assigned to the commissioning crew of the new light cruiser USS Providence (CL-82) in Boston, MA. After going through shake-down the Providence was in the Caribbean Sea in August 1945 steaming towards the Panama Canal on its way to join the armada gathering for the invasion of Japan, when Japan surrendered, ending WWII. Before being discharged from the Navy on December 29, 1946 he toured the Mediterranean Sea and surrounding countries on a post war goodwill tour, the highlight of his Navy years.

Frank married Ms. Sybil Johnson on March 16, 1943 in San Francisco, CA and again in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City on December 11, 1943. They bought a home on Senior Place in Harwood Heights in 1947 where they raised their seven children and lived together happily ever after until Sybil departed on May 27, 2010. While living on Senior Place they were members of several Catholic churches, as the church followed the city and suburban expansion, the last being St. Rosalie's Church. Frank and Sybil were avid square dancers with the Park Ridge Road Runners and enjoyed travelling in their motor home. They spent the winters at Rincon West RV Resort, in Tucson, AZ, from 1989 through 2008.

Frank was an electrician with Local Union 134, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and was recently awarded a 65 year service pin and certificate. He also was a member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. But most important to him, he was a devoted husband and father.

Frank is survived by his two sisters, Amy Rutherford (age 95) and Violetta Haglund (age 92), and seven children; Cindy (Frank Zeman), Kevin (Barbara Blindauer), Keith (Mary Beth Hurley), Scott (Rosemary Rams), Paul (Pat Murray), MaryLynn (Ed O'Callaghan), and Jill (Jeff Bruce); 13 grand children, 7 grandchildren plus an additional granddaughter expected in May; nieces and nephews. He is predeceased by his first grandson, Brian Gibbons, his brother George Gibbons, and darling wife, Sybil (Johnson) Gibbons.

Thank-you Dad for our idyllic childhoods. We were blessed to have you with us for so long. We will miss you dearly.

In Lieu of flowers donations in his memory can be made to either Lurie Children's Hospital or Wounded Warrior Project.

Visitation will take place Monday, January 5, 2015 from 4 P.M. to 9 P.M. Funeral prayers Tuesday, 10:45 A.M. at Nelson Funeral Home. Procession to Mary, Seat of Wisdom Church for 11:30 A.M. Mass of Christian Burial. Interment All Saints Cemetery.