Frederic Sanders Gibson
He was born on July 4, 1907 in Birkenhead, England, across the Mersey
River from Liverpool. His parents were John, called Jack, a butcher,
and Ann Jane Sanders. He had 4 older brothers and sisters, Jack, Burt,
Jean and Vi. Two other siblings died young. One of his first jobs was
as a stable-hand.
He emigrated to Canada aboard the MS Alaunia, entering the port of
Quebec in April 1927. He worked in Hamilton with Remington Rand as a
machinist. After that he worked for DeForest Crosley, which was taken
over by Rogers-Majestic Corp. Ltd.
He met and married Ann Fleming Henderson Bell Young, a clerk at
Simpsons in down-town Toronto, in 1935. She was a colleague of his
sister Vi. Ann was born in Lockee, near Dundee in Scotland in
1905. They raised two girls. Lillias Ann Jane was born in 1936 and
Eleanor Marie Mortsen, born in 1940, joined the family as a foster
child in 1943. She was adopted when they went to the United
States. The family lived in Mimeco near Toronto and he worked at the
Neptune Meters Company making gas meters.
They emigrated to the United States, to Pittsburgh, in 1951-52 and
lived on 734 Newport Drive in Rolling Hills in Pittsburgh. Fred worked
for the company of some relatives, Jim and Charlie MacGregor. The
company, York Gillespie, designed and built special equipment
machinery. Grandad told the story that they did annealing work for
companies such as Boeing. But after a bad set of tubing was delivered
to Boeing they went broke, and so he went to work at the Cooper
Bessemer Locomotive Works in Grove City as a machinist. He lived
during the week in Grove City and only came home on weekends. Just
before they went to Florida he worked for a year at the Lawrenceville
Screw Company.
Lillis married John Weber in 1956, and Fred moved with Ann and
Eleanor to Florida in 1957 where they lived in Pinellas Park. He first
worked as a machinist for Auto Schwartz. There he met one of his best
friends, Manfred Schroeder, who had emigrated from Thueringen in
Germany. He moved to Milton Roy, where he worked until he retired
producing parts for medical equipment such as kidney dialysis
machines.
Retirement didn’t last long - he was soon so bored at home that
he went back to Milton-Roy “part-time”, meaning he went in
every day and stayed as long as possible.
Lathes were his passion. He set up and ran Brown and Sharpe automatic
lathe machines at the companies he worked for. He even bought his own
lathe for his garage, and spent countless hours lovingly maintaining
the machine and making things. He seems to have invented a number of
screws, but of course the companies he worked for obtained the
patents. I recall him making nice wooden candlesticks and even the leg
of a chair that we needed replaced. He was always collecting pennies
for us grandchildren, and would polish one up for us to a shine.
Ann died in October 1968 and is buried here in Pinellas Park.
1970 was a very eventful year. Eleanor married Bob Lowry, and Grandad
married Ann’s cousin Margaret Clark Bisset Brookson, called
Peggy. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland and had worked for the Sloane
family. He moved in with her in her trailer at Paisley’s Trailer
Park in Redington Shores, Florida. Then it was discovered that he had
cancer of the colon, and large portions of his colon had to be
removed.
He was an active bowler and made many friends at the Park. Peggy
became afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease and he had to put her
into a home in 1984.
She died seven years later in 1991.
One of the problems of living to a very old age, as Grandad did,
reaching 92 years of age, is that you pretty much outlive all your
friends. He was feeling increasingly lonely, and was to the point that
he couldn’t really see to drive, although he never would admit it
and careened down Gulf Blvd in his car, his guardian angel doing
overtime.
He moved to Wesley Manor on Julington Creek,
Florida just up the road from Lillis and John in Jacksonville in
1994. Here he met some more nice people, and enjoyed his room near the
water. He would visit Lillis and John often, puttering around the
garden and taking care of Liz, the dog. Towards the end his health was
failing him and he needed around- the-clock care. He died at the home
on March 31, 2000.