David Bruce Gibson

Captain David Bruce Gibson, USN (Ret.) '58, age 77, of Rogers, Ark., died Thursday, Dec. 25, 2014, in Fayetteville. He was born Feb. 16, 1937, in Glen Ridge, N.J., to David Stanley and Janet Lucille Cornell Gibson. Although a native of New Jersey, he attended Admiral Farragut Academy, a naval honor school, in St. Petersburg, Fla., for his last three years of high school prior to receiving his congressional appointment to the Naval Academy. He graduated in June of 1958 in the 9th Company from the Naval Academy. Upon graduation, he became a Navy line officer. He served on five ships, all capable of speeds greater than 30 knots, over a 31 year career; Charles P. Cecil (DDR-835), Stickell (DDR-888), Wright (CC-2), Richmond K. Turner (CG-20) and Ranger (CV-61). With a mid-career change in naval designator to Engineering Duty Officer he served at four industrial activities: Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, Ship Repair Facility Subic Bay, Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters in Washington D.C. and the Supervisor of Shipbuilding and Repair in Boston. In between duty stations, Dave did post graduate work at Harvard Business School and the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, California where he earned a Master's Degree in Physical Oceanography. During Dave's career, he received numerous awards and decorations. He retired from the Navy in 1989 on the parade grounds of the Washington Navy Yard. His civilian career then started in Washington, D.C. as a senior project manager for Ronson Management Corporation. In 1991, he began the rewarding career of teaching high school physics and mathematics in northern Virginia. He retired to the good life in 1996 to the shoreline of Beaver Lake in Rogers, Ark., along with wintering over in the lower Rio Grande Valley. With free time, he published two books of his Navy experiences and developed an extensive ancestral database. Dave had a lifelong love of the sea and in retirement he continued this passion by cruising the high seas in style to many places around the world. He never received a phone call on these cruises concerning an engineering problem below decks. Dave is survived by his wife Twyla Patterson Gibson; daughter, Laura Larsa Grisham and her husband Cliff Blaine Grisham of Fayetteville, Ark.; two sons, Anders T.C. Gibson and his wife Julie Skacel Gibson of Houston, Texas; Brian Chauncey-Rizal Gibson and his wife Sara Lyn Gibson of Manassas, Va.; one brother, Rodger Wallace Gibson of Louisville, Ky.; 11 grandchildren and his previous wife, Nancy Gordhamer Gibson of Fayetteville, Ark. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Moore's Chapel with burial at a later time with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. To place an online tribute visit www.mooresfuneralchapel.com.