Madelyn S. Gibbs

Madelyn S. Gibbs
July 15, 1926 - June 3, 2018

Madelyn was born at her aunt's home in Madrid, Nebraska on July 15, 1926. She was the third of four children born to Walter and Mae Short.

Madelyn grew up in a four room house on the family farm that was located nine miles south of Elsie. In addition to her immediate family, her Grandmother also lived with them. Her brothers Donald and Junior shared a room, Madelyn and her sister Marjorie slept in their parent's room. And her Grandmother, Big Mama, had her own room. The fourth room was the kitchen.

Madelyn's parents farmed and owned chickens and fourteen cows which they milked and then separated the milk and cream. They would take the cream and eggs to town every Friday night to sell so they had money to buy groceries. While in town she would get to visit her cousins also.

While growing up her mother and father taught Madelyn how to sew. At eight years of age, Madelyn made her first quilt - a nine patch pattern that she pieced together.

Some of her favorite memories were of the 4th of July Parade, and when the carnival would come to town in the summer. Both major social gathering events for the farmers and townspeople. She also enjoyed going to Madrid to the movies with her family, admission was a dime.

She moved to Grant, Nebraska at the age of sixteen to attend Perkins County High School. In addition to working part time, she cooked and cleaned for an elderly lady in exchange for her room and board. After graduating high school she attended the University of Nebraska for one year.

Upon returning home she worked at the Perkins County Court House in the office for Old Age Assistance and Child Welfare. During this time Madelyn would go to the trains to serve food to the young men going to WWII. After about a year, she and a friend from high school decided to move to Denver, Colorado.

While living in downtown Denver at the end of WWII, Madelyn worked at Lowery Air Force Base in the Discharge Officer's office for approximately two years. Then she was transferred to the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood where she worked in the payroll office.

While employed at the Federal Center, Madelyn went on a blind date to Sloans Lake with Albert Gibbs. He wasn't much of an oarsmen, but they dated for about two years before being married on October 16, 1948. They would go dancing every Friday evening at Elitches Amusement Park before having children. They also enjoyed picnics with friends. Their first home was in Arvada almost underneath the water tower. There were four children born to this union. Upon Alan's birth in 1949, Madelyn quit her job and became a full time homemaker.

On July 8, 1952 the family boarded an airplane in New York for Rome. While in Rome they toured the ancient ruins for a couple of days and then flew onto to Beirut, Lebanon. Albert worked on the Litani River Project for the State Department. This move was for a job opportunity to develop hydro electricity for Lebanon. The project when completed consisted of three reservoirs and six power plants. In November of the same year Marla was born. The family took several trips to other cities while in Beirut. One of the trips they flew to Cairo and then onto Luxor by train to see the Valley of the Kings for six days. Their return to the US was by boat a couple of years later.

Upon returning to the US they settled in Grand Junction on North 21st Street, making many life long friendships with the neighbors. They resided in Grand Junction for two years. Madelyn, Alan and Marla attended the 50 year neighborhood reunion on August 13, 2005.

Albert was appointed to a new job that took the family to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1956. Madelyn was near her aunt that lived in the Ferguson Mansion. She was also active in playing bridge. While in Lincoln their third child, Mary, was born in 1959.

In the early sixties the family moved back to Colorado living for awhile on Ingalls Street near Lakeside Amusement Park. The family settled in a new sub division that was being built in the Applewood area. This area later became part of the city of Wheat Ridge. Mom would fix breakfast for Albert every morning before he left for work, read the Denver Post, work the NY Times crossword puzzle, and have coffee with the neighbor ladies mid-morning. She made keeping a house clean and laundry look effortless. For a short time she was a Pink Lady at Lutheran Hospital after getting a second car after her mother passed away in 1966.

The family became members of the Applewood Valley United Methodist Church when they moved to their new home. Madelyn was very active in the WSCS group at the church. Once while working a wedding reception she leaned over too far and caught her hair on fire while cutting and serving a wedding cake.

Family vacations were usually trips to the family farm in Elsie to help with the wheat harvest or Durango to visit Al's family. There were trips to Montana to visit and travel with Albert's brother's family. Road trips to California to visit Madelyn's sister and Al's family.

Their fourth child, Susan, joined the family in January 1967. The first Super Bowl was being played that year, and Albert joked with mom that she would have to drive herself to the hospital if she went into labor during the game. Mom volunteered for various positions at Applewood Valley Preschool that Susan attended at the church. She also helped with Girl Scouts Cookie annual cookie sales and played bridge in various groups.

In the early seventies she became very interested in quilting. She took a part-time job at Quilts an Other Comforts. later Madelyn was employed at Quilting Fair, and Quilts in the Attic. She made several quilts and accumulated quite a "stash" of fabric over the years. Madelyn was a member of the Embroider's Guild of America (EGA) for a time. She joined the Colorado Quilting Council in 1979 and served on numerous committees including the Capital Quilt Show, Documentation, Quilt-a-Fair, Ways and Means, Nominating, Publicity, to name a few. Ina 1989 Madelyn went to Japan for "Quilt Colorado in Japan". This was a joint project with the Denver Art Museum and Colorado Quilting Council to exhibit quilts from the museum and members of the council in Japan. After the show in Japan, she want to China before coming home. She was inducted in 1991 to the Council's Hall of Fame. She never told her family about this honor, but the plaque was found in her closet after her passing.

After Albert retired in 1975, they tried to resume their golf game again but that didn't pan out after Albert killed a duck with a stray shot, so they purchased a motor home and spent their summers traveling and seeing family and friends. They also would travel with Albert's childhood friend, Robert Schlessman and his wife Lucille. They began an annual trip to Hawaii in January where they would stay for about a month. While there they would attend the Pro Bowl.

After Albert passed away in 1986, Madelyn sold the motor home, but kept up the traveling. A road trip with her sister-in-law Louise was right after the funeral, but followed by numerous other road trips with cousins or friends. The road trips were soon followed by cruises and additional trips to Hawaii with Bob and Lucille. She vacationed with Mary and her family for the past twenty-two years. At seventy she went to Carlsbad Caverns hiking down inside the cavern. Her last trip was to Hawaii in June 2017.

As her children began to marry and have children, Madelyn spent many hours making baby quilts and birth samplers for each new addition to the family. She was especially proud of her six grandchildren. Family dinners and holidays became centered around the grandkids with lots of pictures as they grew. She also enjoyed her great-granddaughter Isabel, who always made Madelyn happy. Unfortunately, she never go to meet her great-grandson Sam. Madelyn's door was always open. Alan, Marla and Mary (with their families) all moved home and stayed with her for awhile.

As upkeep on the family home became too much to handle, Madelyn moved to the patio home community of Cambridge Park not far from her home in Wheat Ridge about twenty years ago. This also allowed her to travel and not worry about yard work while she was gone.

Holidays and family gatherings were a very important part of Madelyn's life. In addition to quilting and traveling, she also enjoyed beading, counted cross stitch, knitting, crochet reading, the theater, music of the big band era, playing bridge, gardening, various quilting groups and going out to lunch or dinner with friends, tea the Denver downtown, shopping, and jigsaw puzzles. She also enjoyed going to antique stores to look for inexpensive porcelain animal shaped pin cushions for her collection.

As her Alzheimer's progressed, making keeping up with the bid in bridge and crossword puzzles became too difficult she switched over to word search. It was on her was to a bridge game that she got confused and decided not to drive anymore. It was one of the hardest decisions she made, as she knew her freedom to come and go as she pleased was gone. But she kept her car and would sometimes drive with a co-pilot. She was always up for a drive if someone offered.

Madelyn was loving, honest, intelligent, and cared deeply for her family and friends. Many of her friends were lifetime friends.

After her fall at the end of March where she broke four ribs and dislocated her shoulder, Madelyn worked extremely hard for the next twenty-eight days to regain her strength so she could return home. She spent about two weeks at a Memory Care Assisted Living Home before moving back to her home in May. She always said she was not going to "one of those homes", she went but didn't stay long. Unfortunately for us, God decided that her time had come to join her family in heaven a couple of weeks later.

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Madelyn was born at her aunt's house in Madrid, Nebraska on July 15, 1926 to Walter and Etta Mae Short. She had two older brothers and a younger sister that she grew up with on the family farm near Elsie, Nebraska.

It was always interesting to hear Mom talk about life on the farm. She walked two miles to a one-room school house and ate cold fried egg sandwiches for lunch most of the time. Everyone helped on the farm and she learned the skills of sewing, cooking, canning, gardening and taking care of the animals. Madelyn remembered the depression and the dust bowl era and how life was difficult. She said they had it better than most people in the cities because they grew their own food. Life was simpler then, but most of their time was occupied with everyday life just to exist.

Madelyn's mother was a schoolteacher and thought it very important that women have an education. Madelyn was 14 years old when she moved from the farm to Madrid, Nebraska to attend high school. She earned her room and board by keeping books for a store while attending school. She was fortunate to attend college in Lincoln, Nebraska - her brothers had to stay home and help with the farming. When she was 17 she moved to Denver with a good friend.

At the time it was the beginning of WWII. Mom and her friend, Artis would attend USO dances on the weekends. She loved big band music and especially Frank Sinatra.

Mom could play the piano really well when she was young. Her fingers could fly over the keys playing some very complicated compositions. She also enjoyed playing the popular music of the day.

From some of the pictures I've seen, and a few stories she related, Madelyn enjoyed getting together with friends and having a good time. And she always enjoyed a good joke.

Madelyn met her husband, Albert, on a blind date. Well, half blind because Mom had her friend set it up. Mom and Dad both worked for the government at the Federal Center. They were married in 1948 and welcomed their baby boy, Alan, in 1949. At that time they lived in the shadows of the water tower in Arvada. Back in those days you rode the trolley into Denver to shop and work.

From Arvada, they moved to Palisade, Colorado for a brief time. While there, Albert, who was a hydrologist, took advantage of an opportunity to move his family to Beruit, Lebanon for two years. While there, they traveled to the pyramids of Egypt and rode camels. They saw the Sphinx, the Suez Canal and other sites of antiquity. About six months after their arrival, their daughter Marla was born. Madelyn was a little stressed out about having the car break down on the way to the hospital. She said sometimes people would run down the street shooting guns and she didn't want to be caught having a baby in that situation - she had Dad go out and but a new battery for the car.

When it was time to return to the US, Madelyn and Albert took a short tour of Europe with two little kids. They traveled on an ocean liner back to the states and settled in Grand Junction, Colorado for three years. They lived in a neighborhood of similar-aged couples and small children, and forged many friendships that remained for the rest of their lives.

Next stop was Lincoln, Nebraska for four years. This was where Mary was born. Madelyn was a busy homemaker caring for her family of five. She always had a delicious dinner on the table and kept her house spotless.

From Lincoln, they moved to Denver around 1962 and remained in Wheat Ridge for the next 56 years. Madelyn continued to be a stay-at-home mom - and surprise, surprise when she was 40, Susan was born. She used to say a baby with every move. Madelyn was a great mom. She took great care of her children and exposed them to handcrafts, travel, music, dance and sports.

During most of Madelyn's life she was a skilled seamstress and made many of her clothes, as well as her children's. She made beautiful needlepoint and cross-stitch projects, quilts, beading and knitting. She used her many skills to decorate her home and make gifts. She passed many of her skills on to her children and at the same time instilled in them the attitude that you can make anything you want.

Madelyn and Albert enjoyed playing bridge and Madelyn continued to play for many years with her good friends. She was involved in her church and volunteered for many activities. She was generous and kind and was always happy to help.

Madelyn always enjoyed traveling and went many places throughout her life. There were many family road trips and they visited many sites and reservoirs along the way. In 1989 she went to Hong Kong and main land China. She walked on the Great Wall and was a Tiananmen Square the day before the big uprising where many people were killed. It was a relief to see her walk off the plane the day she returned. Madelyn took several cruises and enjoyed them thoroughly. And she loved to take off and drive across country for an adventure. It as a sad day when she gave up driving.

Madelyn always said she was going to live forever - she didn't quite make it but she did live a long and interesting life and it was sad to see her go. Live it up Mom, now that you're free from all the worldly woes. We love you, and will see you in a few.

Madelyn is survived by two daughters Marla (Steve) Stefanelli and Mary (Bill) Jones, daughter-in-law Donna Gibbs, sister Majorie McKenzie, six grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, two cousins Shirley Brott and Peggy Seipp, numerous nieces and nephews and her beloved dog, Sadie. Madelyn was preceded in death by numerous friends and two of her children, her son Alan and daughter Susan.

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