I. McDowell “Mac” Gibbons Jr., 81, died Monday, May 10, 2021.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, May 13, in the Dukes-Harley Funeral Home chapel in Orangeburg, with the Rev. Clint Davis officiating. Interment will follow in Memorial Park Cemetery.
The family will greet guests starting a 1:30 p.m. Thursday, with the service starting promptly at 2 p.m.
Mac was born Oct. 5, 1939, in Columbia and was the eldest son of the late Margaret Plate G. Gibson and Irby M. Gibbons. He was a 1957 honor graduate of Orangeburg High School; He was a dedicated alumnus of The Citadel. He was the husband of Beverly Williamson Gibbons, and they were married Dec. 17, 1961, at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church with Dr. Carlisle presiding. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in December 2011 with their son and families in Chester. Mac was a communications design engineer at McCall-Thomas Engineering Co. Inc., where he was a dedicated employee for 30 years. A founding member of the Orangeburg League of the Arts, he was a well-known artist, heraldic researcher, house-plan designer and craftsman. He was a past Exalted Ruler of Orangeburg BPOE #897 and a member of the Orangeburg Rotary Club. In 1990, he and Beverly moved to Hartwell, Georgia, where he was the director of engineering at Hart Communications Inc. for 20 years. As a past president of the Hartwell Rotary Club, he was named “Rotarian of the Year” in 1995 and was a Paul Harris and Will Watt Fellows. For his dedication to community service, the Hart County Chamber of Commerce and the DAR honored him with the “Golden Shovel” award in 2007, and the employees of Hart Communications Inc. voted him “Employee of the Year.” He retired Dec. 31, 2009. He and Beverly were active in the community and were members of Hartwell First United Methodist Church. He was a member of the Men’s Thursday Morning Prayer group and a benefactor of The Citadel’s Scholarship Foundation. In the Rotary Foundation, he touched the lives of many students. Reading, art projects, music, painting, craft projects, movies and gardening were among his many interests. He loved his family with a big heart, especially his grandchildren who knew him as their “MacDaddy”. He and Beverly made new friendships and enjoyed upstate Georgia.
He is survived by his devoted wife, Beverly; his beloved sons, Dr. Marion Logan Gibbons and his wife, Jennifer Wood Gibbons, and Circuit Court Judge Brian McDowell Gibbons and his wife, Lorena Crouch Gibbons, all of Chester; his beloved grandchildren, Logan McDowell Gibbons, Mason Bradley Gibbons, Hunter Osborne Gibbons, Mitchell Banks Gibbons, Hannah Grace Gibbons and Marshall Britt Gibbons, all of Chester; a brother, G. Michael Gibbons of Columbia; a sister, Peggy G. and her husband Bill Simpson of Myrtle Beach; sisters-in law Martha W. and her husband John Broaddus of Greenbelt, Maryland, Virginia W. Place, and Susanne W. and her husband, Wayne Branham, of Blackstock; cousins, nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his grandparents, George F. and Elma Coker Gibbons and Harry Logan and Bernice B. Plate.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to a charity of one’s choice.
Posted in: Times and Democrat
Posted on: 2021-05-11
Link to original obituary: https://thetandd.com/news/local/obituaries/mcdowell-mac-gibbons-jr—-orangeburg/article_c7670e17-4797-5954-a3a4-50ab3ad257eb.html