Eugenia “Gene” Drexel Gibbons Stansell, 86, of Tifton passed away on Thursday, January 27, 2011, at her farm in Sunsweet. Funeral services will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 29, 2011 at Tifton’s First United Methodist Church. Rev. Bruce Sack will officiate with burial to follow at Rose Hill Cemetery in Ashburn. Wright Crosby, Billy Jones, Shawn Penman, Richard Drexel Phelps, Brett Stansell and Mike Stephenson will serve as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers will be members of the Beacon Sunday school class of Tifton’s First United Methodist Church. The family will receive friends on Saturday, January 29, 2011, from 2:00 p.m. until the hour of the service at Tifton’s First United Methodist Church.
Mrs. Stansell was born on October 23, 1924 in Sandersville and was the daughter of the late Eugene Drexel and Myrtle Bailey Drexel. In addition to her parents, she was also preceded in death by her first husband, Nolan Gibbons. She graduated from the University of Georgia and lived in Tift County most of her life. She was a homemaker and taught Social Studies in Turner County and Tift County Junior High School. Mrs. Stansell enjoyed traveling and sailing with her first husband, Nolan Gibbons, an avid yachtsman and boat builder. They sailed together in the Bahamas, throughout Florida and traveled as far north in the inter-coastal waterway as Annapolis, Maryland and Washington, D.C. In later years, she and her second husband, James Stansell, continued to enjoy travel and took many cruises and trips together. She was also a member of the Chula 5 C Club, the Azalea Garden Club, the American Legion Auxiliary, the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and served as past president of the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. She and James Stansell volunteered to deliver Meals on Wheels for many years.
Mrs. Stansell is survived by her second husband, James Stansell of Tifton; her two daughters, Kristin Gibbons of La Crosse, Florida and Dr. Kathrine Gibbons of Tifton; as well as four step-sons and their wives, Donald and Peggy Stansell, Richard and Marlit Stansell, Fred and Linda Stansell and Brett Stansell.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to Tifton’s First United Methodist Church Meals on Wheels Program, 107 West 12th Street, Tifton, GA 31794 or the charity of your choice.