A search for work in the coal mines led the Gibson's to Chapmanville, W.Va. My mother was raised on Godby Branch of the Guyandotte River, in Logan County. She lived in the same house most of her life. The house got moved about 100 feet from the road, but it remained on the same property.
She was the 3rd of seven kids, and the oldest of 3 girls. She has always had a gift for needlework crafts. One of her favorite pastimes is crossword puzzles. She's been doing them in ink for as long as I can remember. She has an obsession for gathering and shelling walnuts each fall.
She graduated from Chapmanville (W.Va.) High School, class of 1947. From 1948 to 1951, she attended Nurse's Training at Raleigh General Hospital, in Beckley, W.Va. This required a short course of training at Philadelphia General, in 1950. She became a Registered Nurse and went to work at Logan General Hospital in Logan, W.Va.
This was when she met and started dating my father. After a couple of years, they were married and moved to Huntington. She worked at the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railroad Hospital. That's where my sister and I were born. When we moved to Athens, Ohio for a year, she worked at Sheltering Arms Hospital. The first couple of years we lived in Glenville she didn't work, outside the home. However, I kept her pretty busy by falling on my head all the time. I don't think all those bumps on my noggin had any lasting effect...well, you decide.
After a while, she started working at Calhoun General Hospital. Mostly night shift, but she worked wards, surgery and emergency room. She saw a lot of the traffic victims, for several counties around. Curvy roads and fog are a bad combination. She stayed there until 1974.
After my father's death, she quit the hospital and hired on as an Assistant County Nurse for the Gilmer County Department of Health. When the Head Nurse retired, she got that spot. She did a lot of home visits to patients who were recently out of the hospital. She brought home lots of vegetables, eggs, butter and anything else that can come from a farm. Now, when I met people, they asked if I was Charlotte's son, instead of Frank's.
She retired from the County a couple of years ago, but folks still call her for advice. She remarried to a good man, Russell Thompson. He's a pipeline welder and travels all over when he works. She goes along and they live at trailer campgrounds during the summer. They also take my other sisters, Heidi and Princess Grace. Those dogs are spoiled rotten.
My Mother is a really wonderful Lady and I love her a lot. She's been through quite a bit in her life and has helped many people. Not bad for a "Coal Miner's Daughter"! I'm proud to be her son.
