Dr. Winfield S. Gibbs

WINFIELD GIBBS
Dec. 31, 2016
Dr. Winfield S. Gibbs, 87, a longtime physician and Director of Radiology at Sunbury Community Hospital, died on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2016, of respiratory illness at Nottingham Village Nursing Center, Northumberland.
He was born in Philadelphia.
Dr. Gibbs was married for 63 years to the former Barbara Ann Hess of Trenton, N.J., who survives him. They lived in Sunbury from 1972 to 2007 before moving to Nottingham Village.
He was the elder of two sons and graduated from Bristol High School, outside Philadelphia, in 1946. He earned a B.A. from Washington & Jefferson College in 1949 and graduated from New York University College of Medicine with an M.D. in 1954, before immediately joining the Air Force. Dr. Gibbs served his medical internship at the William Beaumont Army General Hospital at Biggs Air Force Base in El Paso, Texas, and subsequently became a flight surgeon at Otis Air Force Base in Massachusetts.
Upon discharge in 1957, he took obstetrical residencies at Akron General Hospital, in Ohio, and Frankford Hospital, in Philadelphia, then became Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Tyler Memorial Hospital in Meshoppen. Subsequently he became a Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in fertility at Michigan State University and Director of Medical Education at Saginaw General Hospital and St. Mary's Hospital in Saginaw, Mich. In 1969 he became Director of Medical Education at Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, and later took a radiology residency there. He organized physician-operated emergency rooms at Saginaw General and St. Mary's hospitals in Michigan and at Robert Packer Hospital and Wilkes-Barre General Hospital in Pennsylvania. He was Chief of Radiology at Sunbury Community Hospital from 1972 until 1991, and retired from practice in 1993.
While in Meshoppen, Dr. Gibbs was President of the Wyoming County Medical Society, a member of the Borough Council of Meshoppen and of the Wyoming County Zoning Commission. He also helped organize the United Fund of Wyoming County and was instrumental in building a new Tyler Memorial Hospital, which opened in 1965.
After arriving in Sunbury in 1972, Dr. Gibbs became Chairman of the Northumberland County Mental Health Board (1974-1978) and President of the Northumberland County Medical Society (1982-1983). He also served as the Medical Society's Secretary from 1973 to 1982. From 1974 to 1982 he served as Delegate to the Pennsylvania Medical Society.
Dr. Gibbs was President of the Susquehanna Valley United Fund (1983-1984) and President of Sunbury's John R. Kauffman Public Library (1987-1990). He served many years on the library's Finance Committee, helping to build the new Degenstein Community Library on South Fifth Street.
A member of the Sunbury Rotary Club from 1973 until his death, Dr. Gibbs served as the club's President in 1989-1990 and its Treasurer from 1994 to 2002. He also served on Sunbury's Government Study Commission in 1991 to determine a possible alternative method of city government.
From 1973 onward, Dr. Gibbs was a member of the Mary Derr Rockefeller Auxiliary of the Sunbury Community Hospital. In 1988 he built a motorized train that he drove for many years at Sunbury's Love 'n Care Street Fair, carrying children and other fairgoers around Cameron Park. He also built the fair's first dunking pool, in 1975.
For many years after his retirement Dr. Gibbs held portrait-painting classes in his home, donating the fees to the hometown libraries of his students. The students called him "Gus" and became good friends.
The work of Dr. Gibbs and his wife Barbara on behalf of the Kauffman and Degenstein libraries included many auction fundraisers held at their home, beginning in 1980. He was a charter member of the Friends of the Library, which was begun in 1996. That year he and his wife were named Citizens of the Year by Sunbury's American Legion Post 201. Mayor David Persing declared Oct. 26, 1997, to be "Win and Barbara Gibbs Day" at the Hotel Edison during the first library auction to be held in a public place. Dr. Gibbs was named an Honorary Degenstein Community Public Library Board Member in 2004.
In addition to his wife, Dr. Gibbs is survived by a daughter, Judy Gibbs, and her spouse, Shawn Wentz, both of Duluth, Minn.; a son, Walter, of Drammen, Norway, and his wife Anne Clara Hommerstad; and a granddaughter, Hanna Leah Hommerstad Gibbs, of New York City. He is also survived by a brother, Lester (Tyke) Bruce Gibbs, and his wife Susann Gibbs of Mount Dora, Fla.; a sister-in-law, Dorothy Ambler of Denver; and a large extended family.
An open memorial service was held Sunday afternoon, Jan. 8, in Northumberland. The service was officiated by Rev. Ann Keeler Evans of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Susquehanna Valley.
To honor Dr. Gibbs's interest in supporting the people of Sunbury, memorial gifts may be made to the Degenstein Community Library, 40 South Fifth St., Sunbury, PA 17801.
Arrangements were by the Jerre Wirt Blank Funeral Home, 309 Water St., Northumberland.
To honor Dr. Gibbs' interest in supporting the people of Sunbury, memorial gifts may be made to the Degenstein Community Library, 40 Fifth St., Sunbury, PA 17801.