Dorothy Greenwood Gibbons

1922 - 2022

Dorothy Gibbons

Dorothy Greenwood Gibbons (1922-2022) passed away on Sunday, August 21, at the age of 100, having made the most of the days she was allotted on this earth.

Raised in Caldwell, NJ, Dorothy was the oldest of four children of Anna Breen Greenwood and Joseph Greenwood. When she was in high school she was chosen to attend a Junior Red Cross conference in Washington, D.C. One of the speakers was Eleanor Roosevelt, and Dorothy was thrilled to meet her in the elevator, as the First Lady was then and always would be one of her heroes. She shared Mrs. Roosevelt's belief that women have a crucial role to play in the community and the world beyond the important task of birthing and rearing children. So, when she was walking in New York City one day in 1942 and saw a recruiting poster for the WAVES, the newly-created female auxiliary of the U.S. Navy, she promptly dropped out of college and signed up, even though she barely met the height requirement of 5'. Because she assumed the Navy would station her near the sea, she was surprised and disappointed to receive orders to report to a newly-built naval airfield at Burns Flat outside Clinton, OK, a rural area still suffering the effects of the Dust Bowl. She recounted some of her memories of that time in a July 15, 2019 Tulsa World interview.

After the war she returned home to Caldwell and soon talked her sister into accompanying her on a bicycle trip from New Jersey through New York and New England, staying in youth hostels along the way. It was an adventure that she recalled with pleasure throughout her life. In October 1946 she married Richard "Dick" Gibbons, who had returned to Caldwell after serving in North Africa and Italy during the war and had begun working in charitable fundraising. Son Tom was born in 1949. When Dick moved to open a new office in Tulsa in 1950, Dorothy was not happy to leave family and friends and return to Oklahoma. That first summer in Tulsa was pure hell, she recounted later; she knew no one in town and was home all day in a small apartment without air conditioning, caring for their toddler while pregnant with twins Judy and Janet, who would be born in August 1951. But she persevered and would come in time to love Tulsa and to be one of its big civic boosters.

Though Dorothy categorized herself as a homemaker on the census forms and was a great wife and mother, she believed firmly (with Mrs. Roosevelt) that it was her duty and privilege to serve the community beyond just her family. The church became a foundational place for her to grow in service and leadership. She was not raised in a religiously observant family, but she had joined the Presbyterian church in Caldwell as a teenager. Soon after moving to Tulsa, she and Dick joined First Presbyterian Church and remained members throughout their lives. Over the years Dorothy served as a Sunday School teacher for both children and adults and as a youth sponsor. She was active in Presbyterian Women and often led Bible studies and attended the organization's national events. She served as an elder on the Session, the governing body of the church, and she was the first female Clerk of Session at FPC.

In the early 1960's, when Tulsa was still racially segregated, Dorothy served on the board of Dunbar Day Nursery in north Tulsa, the first preschool in a predominantly Black neighborhood. One day her children came home from school to find their dad home and their mom gone. When they asked where she was, he replied grimly, "She"s probably in jail right now." Dorothy had joined Black friends from the board in a sit-in at a lunch counter in Tulsa to demand that it be integrated. The sit-in was successful in achieving its goal, and she was not arrested. She later told her children that she was scared to death to disobey the law, but her faith and conscience told her, "Sometimes there's a higher law."

Dorothy was an active member of PEO and treasured her friends made there. She served for years as a Girl Scout and Girl Scout leader, once even taking a large troop on a trip to Mount Rushmore. As their children entered high school Dick and Dorothy became active in AFS, an international student program. They hosted many social events for the students at their home and served as host family for two students, Alessandro Tomassini from Italy in 1966-67 and Leonie Kleefkans from the Netherlands in 1969-70. Their hospitality to international guests would later be extended to the Rev. Robert Kent from Scotland when he was in Tulsa as a Peter Marshall Fellow. All became lifelong friends. After Dick's death in 2006, Dorothy traveled to Italy by herself to visit Sandro, who still calls her "Mom."

Dorothy became active in the League of Women Voters soon after her arrival in Tulsa and worked for many years on voter registration and education efforts. She took good citizenship seriously, believing it required not just voting but informed voting. She instilled in her children that they have not only the right but the responsibility to vote in every election.

After their children were grown, Dorothy and Dick traveled to Europe twice and took a number of ElderHostel trips within the United States. They also spent time every year at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, a special place to their family ever since it became a Presbyterian Study Center in the 1950's. They joined a Great Decisions group to learn about and discuss world affairs, and Dorothy stayed active in that group into her nineties. She loved attending the Tulsa Opera and Symphony, and she took up tennis in her fifties to fuel her competitive streak. She especially enjoyed her long service as a docent at Gilcrease Museum, becoming knowledgeable about the art and culture of the American West, starting the Gillies newsletter for volunteers, and leading student groups on tours of the museum. She never missed an opportunity to promote Gilcrease, calling it Tulsa's greatest treasure.

Dorothy was a voracious reader and a tireless letter-writer. She had a remarkably wide and deep circle of friends going back as far as childhood and nurtured those relationships as long as she could. She remained active into her later years and was delighted to celebrate her 100th birthday party earlier this year with her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and friends in attendance.

We are grateful to the staff of Trinity Woods and Seasons Hospice for supporting her in the last years of her life. Dorothy was preceded in death by husband Dick (2006) and brothers Joe and Bob and sister Janet Birkett. She is survived by children Tom Gibbons (Judy), Richardson, TX; Judy Holland (Gary), Stillwater, OK; and Janet Gibbons, Tulsa; by her "third daughter" by ties of friendship, Edie Allen, Tulsa; and by six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

The family requests that no flowers be sent. Those wishing to make donations in Dorothy's memory may do so to Gilcrease Museum, Ghost Ranch, or the League of Women Voters of Metropolitan Tulsa.

A Service of Remembrance and Witness to the Resurrection will held in the chapel of First Presbyterian Church of Tulsa on Friday, September 9, at 2 pm. https://everloved.com/funeral-homes/OK/tulsa/cremation-society-of-oklahoma-tulsa-ok-74137/