The late Gerlene Gibson, mother to former Minister of Labour Shane Gibson, was honoured by her family for living a life full of compassion and love.

The children, grandchildren, siblings and family members of Mrs. Gibson hosted a lunch in her memory on March 13, Mrs. Gibson’s birthday.

The lunch was held at Pat’s Senior Citizens Home and was sponsored by Bahama Grill, whose owner is the son of Mrs. Gibson.

The family thought it very appropriate to honour their mother by continuing with her teachings of altruism.

Ann Hutchinson, the last daughter of Mrs. Gibson, discussed the importance of serving the elderly.

“We’re just having a great time, not only celebrating her life, but bringing attraction for Pat’s home for the elderly because the thing is all of us are going to die one day. All of us are going to get old one day and people seem to forget that,” Mrs. Hutchinson said. “And so, the seeds that we plant in these people lives, we know that it’s going to come back to us when we get older.”

Patricia W. Moxey, founder and owner of Pat’s Senior Citizen Home, expressed her gratitude to the Gibson family for treating the senior citizens living at the home to a nice meal and a good time. 

The home is a private organization and relies heavily of donations and volunteer work to keep the doors open. 

Mrs. Moxey also mentioned that the home has taken some extra precautions because of the spreading coronavirus (COVID19), which is said to be particularly dangerous to elderly people.

 “Well for one, we limit the visitation of loved ones and when they do come our staff will govern them. Make sure they sanitize their hands coming in and even going in, not putting their hands on the doorknob.” Mrs. Moxey said. 

“We make sure all of that is done. And we asked the loved ones to not interact with the family. If they need something, the nurses and the caregivers here will do it for them.” 

This is the second time the Gibson family has held this event and Mrs. Hutchinson said she hopes to do it annually.