Frances Barbour Gibson, wife of William Gibson, principal trombone of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1955 to 1975, died September 29, 2008 in Framingham, Mass., following a long illness. She was 93.
Born Frances Louise Barbour in Memphis, Tennessee, her parents were Frances Vera Hathaway Barbour and Charles Oliver Barbour, Sr. Growing up in Memphis, she attended Peabody Elementary School and Memphis Central High School. She attended Memphis State College, now University of Memphis and Union University in Jackson, Tenn., earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Union University in 1936.
At Union University, she was assistant to Paul “Bear” Bryant, who began his legendary career as a football coach, later leading the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide, as athletic director of Union University.
Affiliated with the Southern Baptist denomination, she was for many years a social worker, focusing on youth and college students in Memphis and Nashville, Tenn., St. Louis, Mo., Arkansas and elsewhere.
In 1949, she married William McHargue Gibson, moving to Pittsburgh, Pa., where Mr. Gibson held the post of principal trombone of the Pittsburgh Symphony. When in 1955 Mr. Gibson was invited by Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director Charles Munch to assume the role of principal trombone of the Boston Symphony, she moved to Watertown, Mass. and then to Needham, Mass. in 1958.
In Needham, she was an active member of the First Baptist Church, where she was a deaconess and superintendent of the youth department. She also was active in the Needham New Century Club, with special interest in public health as well as literature and drama. She was a member of the Needham Garden Club. In addition, Mrs. Gibson was among the first volunteers for the Needham Meals on Wheels program.
She was an active supporter of the Needham Concert Society and the West Stockbridge Concert Society, both of which were founded by her husband.
She was predeceased by her husband, William McHargue Gibson (1916-2002) of Needham and her brother Charles Oliver Barbour, Jr. (1912 – 2005) of Memphis.
She is survived by two sons, William Charles Gibson of Hanover N.H. and Stanley Barbour Gibson of Framingham, Mass., a daughter-in-law, Betsy Morgan Gibson of Framingham and three grandchildren, Christie Lee Gibson of Cambridge, Mass., Carolyn Diana Gibson, a student at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., and Julia Frances Gibson of Framingham. She is also survived by sister-in-law Blanche Barbour of Memphis.
A memorial service will be held at 1 PM October 11, 2008 at the First Baptist Church in Needham.
Charitable donations in the name of Frances Gibson name may be made to The First Baptist Church in Needham, 858 Great Plain Ave., Needham, Mass. 02492, or the Needham Concert Society, P. O. Box 721, Needham, Mass. 02494.