Thelma Gibson: On Square One, The Power of Reinvention
Thelma Gibson gives her very personal view of rejection and racial prejudice redirected towards another path and motivation to succeed. Though she bore pain, rather than be angry she moved forward to do great things. For more than fifty years, Thelma has been a trailblazer in education, mental and physical health, community and professional leadership, volunteerism and service to her church, community and family.
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ABOUT Thelma Gibson
“Mrs. Thelma V.A. Gibson, President Emeritus, founded the Theodore R. Gibson Memorial Fund, Inc., and co-founded the Thelma Gibson Health Initiative.
She still takes an active role in each organisation. Thelma Gibson is a native of Coconut Grove. Rev. Theodore Gibson, was an Episcopal priest, prominent civil rights and community activist in Coconut Grove and the City of Miami.
Mrs. Gibson is a native of the community her agency now serves, graduating from George Washington Carver High School in 1944 and from the Saint Agnes School of Nursing at Saint Augustine’s College in Raleigh, N.C. in 1947.
In 1984 she was one of 21 women who started the Women’s Chamber of Commerce of Dade County, Miami-Dade’s first Women’s Chamber and was also instrumental in the formation of the Black Investors of Dade County and the Grovites United to Survive.
She has been honoured in many ways for her dedication and service. She was named a founder of the Jewish Home for the Aged, is on the University of Miami Board of Trustees and was granted the Lifetime Achievement Award by the United States Department of Commerce-Minority Business Enterprise. She served as interim Miami City Commissioner for four months in 1997 and has also written a book,’Forbearance: The Life Story of a Coconut Grove Native’.
The VIDEO
