04/24/2025
The South Asheville Cemetery Association family is sad to announce the passing of our Founder and mentor, George Gibson, Sr. on Monday, April 21. Mr. Gibson was born in 1928 to John Henry and Cora Lee Ingram Gibson, residents of South Asheville. As a young boy, he attended South Asheville Colored School (SACS), which was located behind St. John “A” Baptist Church and next to the South Asheville Cemetery. As a youth, he helped to bury deceased individuals in the cemetery, and he recalled attending the funerals of those who had no family members. Mr. Gibson graduated from Stephens-Lee High School in 1948 and married Louise Mauldin (1929-2009) in 1950. In the late 1950s, they purchased land on Thurland Avenue, where they raised their six children.
Mr. Gibson’s life was deeply rooted in faith, with a true passion for the betterment of his family, his church, and his community. He was one of the first Black residents to register his two youngest children to attend Asheville’s newly integrated schools in the 1960s. He was a member of St John “A” Baptist church all his life and served in the choir, as Sunday School superintendent and teacher, Deacon, and janitor. And, for forty years, he led the reclamation and restoration of the South Asheville Cemetery. After his retirement in 1984, Mr. Gibson began to clear the overgrowth in the cemetery. He was joined by George Taylor, a lifelong friend and fellow trustee of St John “A.” Together with a few other community members, they led the formation of the South Asheville Cemetery Association, and under their leadership, hundreds of volunteers have worked to reclaim the cemetery. None of this would have been possible without Mr. Gibson’s decades-long devotion to the cemetery’s preservation.
In recent years, Mr. Gibson has been honored in a variety of ways. In 2020, The Kenilworth Residents Association worked with Riverlink to designate the waterway flowing from the Gibson property through Kenilworth Park to the Swannanoa River, “Gibson Creek.” In 2021, The Historic Resources Commission named Mr. Gibson and George Taylor (posthumously) the 2021 Historic Resources Champions, an award given annually to “those in the community who, by word or deed, have kindled among the citizenry of Asheville and Buncombe County an appreciation for the history or historic resources of the area.” In 2023 The Kenilworth Residents Association along with a Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County grant erected a history panel in Kenilworth Park that includes information about the Gibson family and Mr. Gibson’s life. The panel was dedicated at a ceremony on March 4, 2023, which the City of Asheville and Buncombe County proclaimed “George Gibson Day.”
Our Elder is now our Ancestor. It is hard to describe the sense of loss, and the sense of peace, that his SACA family feels at his passing. We are sad that we will never see him again on this earth, and we are joyful that he is in Heaven, with his beloved wife at his side. Mr. Gibson left for Heaven on his wedding anniversary -- that means that Mr. and Mrs. Gibson got to celebrate their 75th anniversary together! Among the photos included on this post is one taken on their wedding day.
The service for George Gibson, Sr. will be held on Saturday, May 3 at 1 p.m. at Kenilworth Presbyterian Church, #123 Kenilworth Road. All are welcome for the service and the Repass following the service, also at Kenilworth Presbyterian. Ray Funeral Services is taking care of the family’s needs. Burial will be at Forest Lawn Cemetery.
