Celebration of Life Ceremony
17 June 2016
11AM
Reflecting on the life and legacy of Milburn D. Gibbs
by Rhett Brown
I love Milburn Gibbs. Today I remember with you all the ways he enriched life. I feel sadness over his physical separation but I have hope and joy in his ongoing invisible connection to us through a deeper spiritual reality. I often thought of Milburn as a man who had one foot in this world and one foot in the spiritual world. And for this reason, he was a miracle worker. Good things happened to those he loved. I'll bet we could go around the room and tell story after story of the miracles he worked in our lives. So I will do my part.
I first met Milburn Gibbs in the late summer of 2009. My family and I had recently moved to Siler, having purchased the Ruth Smith house. I happened upon Milburn at Mina Bina's Cafe in Siler City. He approached me with refreshing warmth, offered me a handshake, and a greeting "Gibbs is my name, what's yours." And then he disarmed me with an uncommon skill that I came to love about him. He asked how I was doing and listened intently to my answer. This was the first of countless times that he graced me with the gift of listening.
I'll bet there are many here today that have similar experiences with Milburn. He spent his adult life asking questions, listening closely to the answers, and telling the stories of the people with whom he talked. This is his legacy as a father, spouse, mentor, businessman, author, and journalist. His articles for the Long Beach Press Telegraph, Liberty News and Chatham News and his book chronicling a history of the Staley School beautifully tell the stories of those he interviewed. His poetry lovingly showcased the best qualities of those he loved. Over the time I knew him, he shared stories of his world travels, experiences with his daughters and grandchildren, and with his beloved Lala. All of us are here today because he helped us tell our stories. We are a testimony to the miracles he worked in our lives.
I specifically recall a time in which Milburn asked me questions that helped to manifest the next chapter of my life story. He was taking a writing class at the NC Arts Incubator with the Chatham County Poet Laureate. Milburn asked to interview me for one of his assignments. One question in that interview invited me to consider advice I would offer to a Class of 2012 graduating high school senior. I pondered that question and reflected that if I were a senior graduating from high school then, that I would join the military, and allow the armed services to train and educate me for life. At 37 years old, I took my own advice. I made this step because Milburn asked the right question at the right time and supported the manifestation of this chapter in my life. I spent countless evenings at his home, writing drafts of my military application, scanning and emailing documents for references, communicating with my recruiter and future leadership. There is a direct link between the current blessings of my life and my relationship with Milburn Gibbs. Only God knows how my life would have unfolded had I not known him and for that reason, he is one of the most important men I've ever known.
There is not enough time to tell of all the miracles he worked in my life: from inviting me to Earth Visions, introducing me to new friends in Liberty and Siler, encouraging my mental, physical and spiritual fitness, sharing insights about music, literature, politics, and sports over coffee and pie. He encouraged my growth a professional and challenged me to set goals and seek to accomplish them. There are so many ways, so many occasions on which he was like a father to me, a grandfather to my oldest son, a seer and medicine man in my life. For this, I will always be grateful.
Milburn was not an overtly religious man but he was a deep person, a man of the arts, a man of nature, of deep spiritual insight and keen cosmic awareness. He was a man of service, a lover of his community- a true Chatham County sage and a North Carolina treasure. However, some of you may know that Milburn was connected to the Quaker tradition, the Society of Friends. His relationship with this spiritual community makes a lot of sense to me. In this spiritual path, God is known as an indwelling light burning brightly in silence and stillness. It is in stillness and silence that the stories of faith and hope are made manifest in believers such that persons were known to ""quake" from the internal movement of the Spirit during extended times of silence. If you've ever shared silence with Milburn as I did, if he ever asked you a question, if he ever gave you encouragement, then you know that it came from a deep place within him. His words were just for you and on so many occasions, his words were a direct statement from God, a healing moment, a manifesting miracle.
In the spirit of the Quaker tradition, I invite us all to take a moment of silence and reflect on the ways that our lives were touched by Milburn Gibbs. Please join me in silence now.
Please pray with me.
Indwelling Spirit, Blazing Light, Stillness and Silence sought by the sages--thank you for the life of Milburn Gibbs your servant. Thank you for all that he was to each of us. Thank you that he is with us today. Thank you Milburn for being a divine icon, a person through whom miracles manifest. May you dwell forever in light, stillness and peace! Milburn, please continue to be a miracle worker in our lives and let us be your legacy. May we show reverence and honor for others. When we ask others how they are, help us to truly listen, and may the words we speak offer hope and encouragement. Let us be miracle workers. Let it be today and always. Amen.
