EMMETT AND NELDA GIBSON

The following bio was taken from page 210 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Cemeteries of TX

The first time Nelda saw Emmett, he paid no attention whatsoever to her. He was out cold from a fall off a pickup truck. They later became better acquainted and were married on June 1, 1947.

Both Emmett and Nelda were reared in Henderson and attended local schools. He served in the Navy during World War II, and Nelda was a student at Texas Woman’s University when they were married in the chapel on the campus at Denton. They returned to Henderson, where Emmett and his brother, Charles, established Gibson Electric Company in 1957. Emmett became involved in numerous civic organizations and was a city councilman for nine years before becoming Mayor of Henderson in 1974. He served in this capacity for six years.

Emmett McLaughlin Gibson’s father was Moody McKenzie (1885-1964), son of K. K. and Nora Gibson; and his mother is Ethel Nora Dunklin, born in 1886. His parents built a log cabin near Crims Chapel and lived there until their well water went bad, causing them to move into Henderson. Emmett has a brother, Charles F.; his sister Ruby Jean is now deceased.

Emmett recalls that as a boy he was called upon to help with the planting of crops on the farm and that once, in order to complete the job more quickly, he planted all of the peas at one end of the row. When the evidence "came up," all in one clump, he was soundly thrashed and taught the proper method of planting.

Nelda was born Nelda Jean Gresham in 1928, the daughter of Winfrey Earl Gresham, Sr. (1903-1957), and Lillie Irma Crow, born in 1904. She moved to Henderson with her parents at the end of the oil boom. Her brother, Winfrey Earl, Jr., was born in 1923 and in Hawaii served as a test pilot in the Navy during World War II. He was killed during a test of a dive-bomber in Honolulu in 1944 and is buried at the National Cemetery there.

Nelda’s father owned and operated Gresham Electric Company and made and installed many light fixtures in the early buildings of Henderson. During World War II, he designed and manufactured wooden toys, which have become collectors’ items. Under the firm’s name, Tex E Lec, Inc., he also manufactured aluminum boats.

Nelda has taught china painting for thirty years. She helped to organize The Texas China Painting Teachers and helped organize and was the first officer of the International Porcelain Art Teachers Organization. She served as supervisor of the Nursery Department at the First Baptist Church, where Emmett is a deacon.

Emmett and Nelda’s children are: Terrie Diane, born in 1948, who married Wayne Grissom; and Stephen Earl Gibson, born in 1955, who married Denise Dene Heatherly. Terrie and Wayne have three children: Laura Diane, born in 1970; Donald Wayne, born in 1973; and David Allen, born in 1977.

Submitted by Nelda Gibson