Showing posts with label Florence L. Gibbs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Florence L. Gibbs. Show all posts

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Always Returning...

It's been a very long time since I've been here. Life takes over and there just aren't enough hours in a day, or in a month, to attend to all the facets of our lives that should be tended to.
That being said, I now have some time. Unexpected and unfamiliar but here just the same.
Marian Louise Baker is never forgotten. She taps on my shoulder often reminding me that she is still waiting for someone, anyone to let the world know what a gift and blessing she was and that her untimely murder back in the Camelot days of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania should be remembered.
Nothing can change what happened that day. Nothing can erase the horror and brutality of that heinous afternoon by the Harnish cottage. But just as the murder of Jan Roseboro in more recent days clearly screamed that intersection life lines can sometimes lead to an unescapable conclusion, the murder of Marian Louise Baker was in the cards.
Ed Gibbs chose Marian. Or at least his depraved and violently electric mind chose her. But there was to be a victim, don't ever doubt that. The actual identity and circumstances of the killing were variable. A classic case of Marian being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But the bubbling, fermenting and oozing hate that was smothering Ed Gibbs was going to be released somewhere, on someone.
It may be easy now to look at the whole sad story and say "Of course!" It seems fairly clear that the players in Gibb's life set the scene years earlier. Crazy lines intersected and Marian Louise Baker paid the price.
It's occurred to me that Helen Gibbs dodged the bullet, or the lugwrench. I often wonder what kept Ed from snapping and killing the one female in his closest proximity. Perhaps it was the timing. Helen wasn't an arms length away from him that cold, gray January day. Marian was.
I wonder if Helen ever shuddered through the years knowing just how chillingly close she came to a brutal death.
Ed Gibbs killed Marian Louise Baker. But he had co-conspirators.
His parents, his teachers, his past girlfriends. Every human being that reminded him that he has no choices in life, no free will to succeed, to fail or to be human.
What is most astounding is that at the time that the people in Ed Gibb's life were binding him emotionally so tight that was snap was inevitable, they really had no clue.

Monday, August 17, 2009

I Feel As If I've Been Playing Hooky!

Hey all, I feel as if I've been playing hooky lol Of course my blogging isn't my job, nor is it my career, yet! but I am acutely aware that I haven't been hitting the keyboard as much as usual the last few days.
Here's the latest from this end!
I had a few reschedules for this week and it gave me a much welcome chance to spend a good amount of time at home to tackle some much overdue projects!
I'm of the school, " a cluttered house = a cluttered mind". I will never ever be accused of having too little "stuff" or living a barren and simplistic style....
I am very attached to most of my belongings in sentimental ways, but it's time to declutter and get ready for the change in the seasons. I think it's my own form of nesting.
I rearrange furniture. I purge "junk drawers". I like to clean out and declutter right before the change of each season. I just didn't expect it to hit this weekend LOL
So, starting Sunday, I've been working harder at home than I sometimes do on the job. And I love it! It's such a great feeling to look around and see so much accomplished!
There are times when I intentionally schedule "down time" for myself. Those days could include a movie, a day at the beach, a really good book, cooking something I've never made before, online canasta.....But I guess it's my Lancaster County heritage and work ethic that make me "allow" myself an entire day off.
I've been setting things aside for Freecycle, an anticipated yard sale in the Fall, and for Ebay and Craigslist. My to do list is still pages long, but I'm a pretty happy camper tonite :)
And I will get started at the crack of dawn (maybe!) again tomorrow. I am off tomorrow and have tons more to do.
One thing I love about working this hard is how well you sleep afterwards.
I haven't had a Five Hour Energy Shot in days....but I also haven't had one gram of sugar either.
I've learned to read my body and too much sugar really makes me tired and sluggish. So last Tuesday I decided to eliminate it, again.
I've done it lots of times before and sooner or later I cave to an offer of cake or some special recipe someone has made. I know that I would offend them if I decline....you know the rest of the story.
I really don't want to get into the no or low carbohydrate debate with anyone; it gets tedious. And I can only speak for myself and how my system reacts.
But I lived almost zero carbs for three years. My doctor wasn't familiar with Stillman or Atkins and when he saw my lab work he was exuberant.
He told me "whatever it is that you're doing, keep it up!"
Well, an Easter basket from a dear old woman who stood there waiting for me to sample the candy she had so lovingly arranged in that basket, ended the no carb run for three years lol
I had a walking routine also. Six miles a day. Three in the am and three at night. My pace? About 4-4.5 miles an hour. I walk as fast as I can without having to bust out in a sprint.
I'd walk half of it away from home, the other half back....one old farmer, who had watched me for almost a year, finally stopped one day and leaned out the window and smiled at me..."Hey hon, if you'd just keep going in ONE direction, you'd get somewhere!" He laughed and I laughed LOLOL
The humidity finally made me take a break from the walking, but I'm anxious to resume it.
In the meantime, the dreaded treadmill will have to do.
I love walking outdoors, ear buds in place, high energy music blaring in my ears. I do some of my best thinking that way. And not always on purpose.
I remember my daughter going for several jaunts with me a few years back. We watched the progression of the comet in the night sky. That was alot of fun.
So anyway...I'm sugar free, have tons of energy and thankfully the time now to get much done here at home. The weekend and next week will be a different story.
And I start Saturday classes on September 12th.
I think this Fall will be the time of big changes for me.
I'm relearning to think out of the box, and I like it.
I have always looked at life as an adventure, even unintentionally. And I'm looking at it that way again.
So I am back to blogging.
I need to get my notes and thoughts together about several things. The Marian Baker murder in particular.
The trip to Pitman is on hold only because I wanted to get my stuff and my mind in order lol And I think cooler temperatures will make the trip that much more enjoyable. I have heard that New Jersey can be so beautiful in the Fall.
I did find a condensed death notice for Edward Lester Gibb's mother, Florence L. Gibbs.
I'll copy it here and on the Murder in Lancaster County blog. She lived to be 89 years old. She passed away in July of 1993.
I wondered how she lived out her days after her son was electrocuted. Her husband passed years ahead of her. What a tragic thing for any mother to endure. No matter what he did, he was still their son and they loved him completely. As in the Roseboro murder, there were no winners in the Marian Baker murder or Ed Gibb's trial and conviction. His death by electrocution ripped his parents' hearts out. And that is so so sad.

FLORENCE L. GIBBS, 89, of Pitman, died Tuesday at Kennedy Memorial Hospitals/Washington Township Divison.

Mrs. Gibbs attended the First Baptist Church of Woodbury and was a member of the Followers Prayer Group of Gloucester County and the Christian Women's Club of Gloucester County.

Survivors: two nephews.

Services: viewing, 10 a.m. Saturday, Harold E. Haines Funeral Home, 30 W. Holly Ave., Pitman; funeral, 11 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home; burial, Hillcrest Memorial Park, Hurffville.

Note: Harold E. Haines purchased the S. E. Burkett Funeral Home on Holly Avenue. Burkett was the funeral director that handled the preparation and services for Ed Gibbs, her son, after his electrocution in Pennsylvania.