- Date Of Birth: June 28, 1936
- Date Of Death: June 2, 2017
- State: Arizona
Barbara Jean Chamberlain was born June 28, 1936 to Gladys & Chester Chamberlain in Sioux City, IA. They made their home on various farmsteads in the Vermillion, SD area. Barb was the oldest of 6 kids and became her dad’s farmhand, learning to drive the tractor at a young age. It was Barb’s goal to finish high school, something her parents didn’t have the financial resources to support so she made the decision to move 300 miles away to live with a cousin who would assist her in finishing high school if she worked on their farm for her room and board. Barb graduated at the top of her class in the country school as Valedictorian. She also earned a full scholarship to nursing school, a dream come true! But, this too proved to be more than her parents could commit to in assisting her financially with personal expenditures.
Barb liked to dance so much that she sometimes hitch-hiked into town for a Saturday night dance. After some time, one of Barbs girlfriends was planning to drive from SD to CA to follow her fiancé and asked Barb to come with her. Barb was known to be impulsive and said YES to this cross country adventure!
As you might imagine, things didn’t work out quite the way Barb had hoped, so she called her parents to see if they could send her money for a bus ticket. They refused, and her mom gave her the phone number of a cousin in the area who might take her in. It was arranged and Barb quickly noticed a handsome young man out washing his car across the street. They met soon afterward and Monroe asked her to attend the symphony on their first date. Their courtship was short, and after taking jobs in Las Vegas and trying to find affordable rent, they quickly decided to get married on August 6, 1955 and called Monroe’s parents to come and stand up with them.
Barb & Monroe moved numerous times throughout their married life! Their first child, Stephen was born in Yuma, AZ in May of 1956, where they lived in a small trailer that didn’t have it’s own bathroom.
They quickly became a family of 5 when David was born in June 1959. And 2 years later, Deborah was born in March 1961. Barb continued to try to work outside of the home but it was challenging to find sitters for 4 children. Baby #5 arrived on Thanksgiving day in November 1962 and she was named Patricia. When Barb discovered she was pregnant with a 6th child, she was determined to name him James Monroe, Jr after her husband, which he had been opposed to. Theresa was born in September 1965, rounding out their family of 4 girls and 2 boys. This family of 8 moved a couple of more times and landed in Sacramento, CA where the children attended school, dad often worked 2 jobs, and mom took care of the mounds of laundry, cooking large meals, and packing sack lunches for her husband and children every week day. She took in ironing for other families, and also babysitting to make ends meet. We shopped for second hand clothing at the Goodwill, bread came from the day old bakery, and we baked cookies for sack lunches to stretch the family resources. While $$ were stretched thin, and our parents taught us to work hard, we never felt fearful about wondering if there would be enough food on the table for dinner. Our mom didn’t have the luxury of having her mother or her sisters nearby to help her with babysitting or even how to make a favorite family recipe. Long distance phone calls were expensive and so letters were exchanged through US Mail.
Eventually, Barb & Monroe made the decision to move to the Midwest to be closer to Barb’s family and they purchased a small business in central Iowa. With a recession in the late 70’s, they sold the business and moved back to Sacramento. A few more moves over the years took them to Sioux Falls, SD and then to Minneapolis, MN where they lived for the next 20 years, until retirement. After a time, they moved to Sioux City, IA again to be near family, but Barb suffered some back injuries and after 3 surgeries, they decided it was time to retire to a warmer climate, and in 2006, they returned to the state of Arizona where they had started their married life back in 1955!
With a large family, it was challenging for Barb to have many hobbies but a few of her favorite things to do were dancing, playing cards or domino’s, camping with the family, garage sales and learning about anything medical. She mostly refused to rest or nap because she might miss out on something!
Family brought great joy to Barb and she looked forward to the many Gibbs Family reunions that we planned every few years. It meant she got to spend time with her favorite 6 kids, as well as spending time with her 18 grandchildren, and eventually her 12 great-grandchildren. With such a large family, they did their best to travel to the many graduations, weddings, and new baby’s arrivals over the past 34 years!
As Barb’s health declined these past few years, she became an avid Arizona Diamond Backs Fan!
Our beautiful mom went home to be with Jesus on Friday, June 2, 2017, some 37 years to the day of her fathers passing. We know that she is rejoicing in heaven with her parents and a couple of siblings and others she’s known in her lifetime, by dancing and having endless bowls of ice cream!
The family of Barb Gibbs invites you to join us in celebrating her life with an Ice Cream Social from 1:30-3:30pm this Saturday, June 10th at Pine Shadows Clubhouse, Cottonwood, AZ.
