Obituary – Wayne and Sylvia Smith Gibson

Published 10:29 am Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Wayne and Sylvia Smith Gibson, 87 and 85, longtime residents of Glenwood, passed away unexpectedly in their home on Friday, March 14. Funeral services for Wayne and Sylvia will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 20, at Glenwood Methodist Church with Rev. Darin Easter and Rev. Bobby Weeks officiating. Interment will follow in Providence Cemetery with Turners Funeral Home directing. The family will receive friends at the church for one hour prior to the service. 

Wayne proudly served his country for two years in the United States. Both he and Sylvia went on to pursue a higher education with Wayne earning his bachelor’s in Agriculture from Auburn University while Sylvia earned her bachelor’s in Elementary Education from Troy University and a master’s in Education from Auburn University in Montgomery. They both excelled in their chosen career paths with Sylvia becoming a dedicated elementary teacher for over 45 years, first at Brantley and later at Crenshaw Christian Academy. Wayne took a more varied career path by starting out with his family in the Glenwood Mining Company before moving on multiple decades as a cotton and peanut farmer. Even after retirement, Wayne couldn’t just take it easy but had to find something to keep him active, which is why he began his side hustle with managing multiple drink machines in the area. 

They both had shared activities and individual ones. They both enjoyed tending to a garden for many years and often shared its plentiful bounty with family and friends. They were also active members of their community with Wayne serving as a Pike County Commissioner for two terms while Sylvia enjoyed many years with her fellow ladies in the Luverne Garden Club. When it came to the TV, Sylvia never missed Wheel of Fortune and Wayne definitely wasn’t going to miss cheering on his Auburn Tigers in their athletic pursuits. And let’s not forget their many years helping with Glenwood’s famous Festival at the Well! Wayne was an avid fisherman and also thoroughly enjoyed finding and collecting various arrowheads he found over the years, and he could always depend on Sylvia to keep him up to date on all the news in the area. They were both very active and dedicated members of Glenwood Methodist Church where Sylvia played the piano for 50 years and Wayne sang in the choir. 

Wayne and Sylvia were perfectly matched. They were both very strong-willed and determined people who rarely ever met their match. They always enjoyed social occasions because they enjoyed interacting with people, but they also could enjoy their quiet times together with just their own company. While they shared many characteristics, they also complimented each other in their differences. Where Wayne was always moving at warp speed, Sylvia took her time. And where he could have a little bit of a gruffy exterior, he loved that his Sylvia was such a feisty Southern belle with her perfectly coiffed hair and red lipstick. Above all, however, they were devoted spouses, parents, grandparents and great-grandparents who simply adored their family. Their daughter Gail was the light of their life, until she gave them grandchildren that is! Those little ones who called them Papa and Grandma/GiGi were just their whole world for so many years. They were loved back just as ferociously and the hole their passing leaves behind is simply immense, but there is some comfort to be found in knowing they are together in their heavenly reward and all the treasured memories they leave behind. 

Wayne and Sylvia were preceded in death by their parents, I.D. and Corrie Jackson Gibson and Donald and Ruby Everage Smith. Wayne was also preceded in death by his brother, Andrew Mack Gibson, while Sylvia was preceded in death by her twin sister, Sybil Smith West, and brother, Johnny Dawkins. They are survived by their loving daughter and son-in-law, Gail and Jack Sheckton; grandchildren, Brittnee Willis and Natalie (Kerry) Hammond; great-grandchildren, William and Tristan Willis, Giovanni Santiago and Joelle Hammond; Wayne’s sister-in-law, Mary Smith Gibson; Sylvia’s sister, Gwendolyn Smith (Jesse) Lucio; and a host of nieces, nephews, extended family members and friends. 

Active pallbearers will be Andrew Gibson, Andrew Jackson, Doug Jackson, Tim Jackson, Worth Jackson, Jack Jackson, Nick Dawkins, Keith Dawkins, Chad Morgan, Jesse Lucio, Buster Berry and Michael Shelton. Honorary pallbearers will be Boyd Berry, W.D. Green, Dan Jackson, Michael Hughes, Gary Banks and Jeffrey Blackmon. 

The family requests that any memorial donations be made to either Glenwood Methodist Church or the Providence Cemetery Fund.