Audrey Lee (Field) Gibson, age 95, departed this life to be with her
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Saturday, February 5, 2022, at SunPorch
of Smith County in Smith Center, KS. She passed away peacefully after a
courageous battle with covid and age related complications from
progressing dementia.
On June 14, 1926, Audrey Lee was born to Banks Avery Field and
Delilah Fern (Brewer) Field at a farm near Formoso, KS. The oldest of
their four children, she was joined three years later by sister Ruth
Colleen, five years later by sister Margaret Janice, and sixteen years
later by brother Stephen Banks. Her father managed the Formoso Co-op
filling station while her mother was a homemaker. Growing up during the
Great Depression and WWII, she developed a love for children and
teaching at an early age.
Audrey attended grades K through 12 in Formoso graduating with the
Class of 1944. Upon graduation, she went one year to Fort Hays State
before teaching five eighth graders in a two room school at Lovewell.
After her first year of teaching, she retuned to Fort Hays State for
another year to obtain a teaching certificate that allowed her to teach
language arts to seventh and eighth graders at Mankato junior high for
four years. Audrey pursued summer school and continuing education
classes to ultimately earn a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Elementary
Education from Fort Hays State in the summer of 1961.
During her third year of teaching at Mankato, she met the earthly
love of her life. Audrey was united in marriage to Dr. Charles “Doc”
Howard Gibson, Jr. on August 18, 1950, at the Formoso Christian Church.
Doc and Audrey were committed in their marriage to serving the Lord and
supporting each other’s respective ministries - his in the chiropractic
field and hers in teaching. They celebrated over 55 years of devotion
before Doc departed for Heaven on February 18, 2006. Their daughter and
only child, Jill Joann, was born to this union on September 12, 1951.
Following her daughter’s birth, Audrey took a six year recess from
teaching while the family moved from Superior, Mankato and Hill City
before finally settling in Smith Center in 1955. In
1957 Audrey accepted what was a temporary position to teach fourth
grade at Smith Center Elementary School and continued to teach fourth
grade there for 35 years until her retirement in 1992. Although she was
recognized as an Outstanding Elementary Teacher of America in 1975, is
listed in Who’s Who Among American Teachers, and received numerous
awards for her innovative teaching and community service, Audrey would
humbly tell you that she simply loved her students and enjoyed teaching.
One of the most important things in Audrey’s life was her
relationship with Jesus Christ. Growing up she regularly attended Sunday
school and church at the Formoso Christian Church. During a camp
meeting with the church’s high school youth group the summer she turned
sixteen, Audrey responded to an altar call and trusted Jesus Christ as
her Savior. Upon marriage, she transferred her church membership to
Methodist. Audrey was very active in the Smith Center United Methodist
Church where she taught Sunday school to fifth, sixth and junior high
students for over twenty-five years as well as served faithfully in many
of their ministries including the Methodist Lay Witness Movement of
1970. From this experience, she developed a personal relationship with
Jesus Christ. In 1997, she followed her husband and joined the Smith
Center Evangelical Free Church where she was a regular attender and
participant in their women’s ministries until she entered the nursing
home in 2017. Even at the nursing home, Audrey went to the nursing home
church services and Bible studies when able.
Never one to be idle, Audrey liked being busy. She was a lifetime
member of both Delta Kappa Gamma and the Gideon Auxiliary, a Hospice
volunteer from 1992 to 1999, an avid golfer, a world and bus trip
traveler, an excellent cook and baker, and a participant in activities
too numerous to mention. She enjoyed spending time with her family,
socializing, reading the Bible, attending Bible studies, praying, and
sharing the Gospel. She placed her faith in action through loving and
serving and was blessed with a full life well lived for Jesus Christ.
Audrey is preceded in death by her beloved husband Doc, her parents
Banks and Delilah Field, her brother Steve Field, and a dear aunt Martha
Isis (Brewer) Bowles.
Survivors left to cherish her memory include her daughter, Jill
Gibson of Smith Center, KS; sister, Ruth Berneking of Salina, KS;
sister, Margaret Dellett of El Dorado, KS; numerous nephews and nieces;
former students; caregivers; and friends.