M. Beverly Gibbons

Orangeburg, SC.A memorial service for Mrs. Marian Beverly Williamson Gibbons, 80, will be in the Chapel of Dukes-Harley Funeral Home 2:00 PM Thursday July 29, 2021 with Reverend Michael Shaffer officiating. The family will greet friends at 1:30 p.m. prior to the service. An Orangeburg native, she was the eldest daughter of the late Marion Osborne Williamson and Margie Banks Williamson and the wife of the late Irby McDowell (Mac) Gibbons, Jr.Her paternal Great Grandparents were W. Franklin and Effie Mathis Williamson of Norway and S. Douglas Banks and Belle Grant Banks of Winnsboro, SC.Dr. Carlisle Smiley officiated at their marriage on December 17, 1961 in St. Paul's United Methodist Church, Orangeburg, SC.Private interment will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery, Orangeburg, SC. Beverly was a 1958 graduate of Orangeburg High School and earned degrees in English and Spanish at Columbia College and later, her Master's degree.She was a charter teacher at Wade Hampton Academy for 3 years and a charter teacher of English at Orangeburg-Calhoun Tech. College for 22 years.She enjoyed teaching and was twice honored by the Student Govt. Assoc. as "Instructor of the Year."She and Mac moved to Hartwell, GA in 1990 and lived there for 23 years.Beverly was a benefactor of Columbia College, a member of Hartwell First United Methodist Church, and the Harwell Service League.They enjoyed new friendships and the beauty of upstate GA but returned to Orangeburg in July 2013, and cherished their final years with their Wellsgrove community. In 2006, her oldest living relative, Aunt Marelle Williamson Sanford (age 102), asked Beverly to research out Williamson Genealogy.She died before the Genealogy was completed.Beverly found records of the Willow and Goodland areas of the Colonial Orangeburg District (Norway/Springfield) near Edisto River.She and her husband searched the SC Archives, the Orangeburg County Courthouse, the Orangeburg Historical Society, and had help from relatives.In January 2007, Beverly mailed a variety of documents and collected stories to every family, and in June 2007, they enjoyed a lunch reunion at Lebanon United Methodist Church near Norway.The stories continue within all our collective families. Beverly and Mac celebrated their 50th anniversary in December 2011 with their families in Chester, SC.Survivors are her sons:Dr. Marion Logan Gibbons and wife, Jennifer Wood Gibbons of Chester, SC; Circuit Court Judge Brian McDowell Gibbons and wife, Lorena Crouch Gibbons, of Chester, SC.Beverly cherished her six grandchildren who loved her as their "Gams":Logan McDowell Gibbons, Mason Bradley Gibbons and wife, Ashlyn, Hunter Osborne Gibbons, Mitchell Banks Gibbons and wife, Megan, Hannah Grace Gibbons, and Marshall Britt Gibbons, all of Chester, SC.Also surviving are sisters, Martha W. (Sissi) & John Broaddus of Greenbelt, MD; Margie W. Place (Ginni) of Beaufort, SC; and Susanne W. (Sue) and Wayne Branham of Blackstock, SC; cousins, Rolly O. and Linda Williamson, Sherry S. and Dennis Sullivan, and many nieces and nephews. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.barronfuneralhome.com.