Donald's Obituary

Donald "Don" Milton Gibb, age 82, walked into the loving arms of Jesus at noon on Friday, July 21 2017, surrounded by his wife, daughters, and daughter-in-law at his Portage Lake home in Pinckney MI after an 8 year battle with kidney and spinal cancer.Don, who was born May 30, 1935 in Detroit MI, was the oldest child and son of Milton Francis Gibb (originally from Amherstburg, Ontario) and Madeline Wilma Schulze of Detroit. He grew up on Barton and Pinehurst in Detroit and then on Ann Arbor trail in Dearborn Heights in 1959.In his youth, he and his family were members of Messiah Lutheran Church in Detroit. Don was confirmed there.He spent his summers with his sister Pat and cousins at his Uncle Elmer Schulze's cottage on Upper Straits Lake swimming, fishing, turtle hunting, boating, and waterskiing. He owned a small hydroplane boat. He also spoke fondly of summers in Canada, at the Brush farms, playing with cousins.Don graduated from Mackenzie High School in 1953. He served in the Michigan National Guard, where he earned his black belt in Karate. Later, he taught Karate to Detroit police officers.In 1956-58, Don and Sister Pat competed in roller-skate dancing competitions, winning 2nd place in a state competition. In later years, he enjoyed ice skating on Portage Lake and was an excellent skater.Don purchased his cottage on Portage Lake in 1963. He married the love of his life, Esther Helen Neuman, on June 6 1964 at Messiah Lutheran Church and together they built their year-round lake home and their family.Don had varied interests throughout his life. He was a charter member of Shalom Lutheran Church serving as head usher, property chairman, audio tech operator, and custodian. He loved to take care of the church. He also sang in the choir and enjoyed harmonizing. He built the cross in the depot (Shalom's first worship site) and the altar furniture and cross in the original sanctuary of the current building.Throughout most of his life, he was an avid outdoorsman. He loved to camp, fish, and hike. When he was a teenager, he survived an Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake bite. His children loved hearing stories of this ordeal and feeling the bump in his arm where the fangs broke off and remained. He loved fishing for Northern Pike and Salmon fishing with his brother-in-law's John and Richard, his buddies and later with his son and son-in-law's.In addition to trips to the Smoky Mountains, Georgia, and Florida, he loved camping and camped in many parks throughout Michigan, especially Hoeft State Park. He made many dear friends while camping at Hoeft.He played the accordion, was a Detroit Tigers and Red Wings fan, and a ham radio operator when he was young. He also loved bowling, pool, ping pong, horseshoes and card games.Don was inventive, and he enjoyed tinkering with motors, gears and pulleys. He created a motorized tripod barbecue rotisserie before any were commercially available. He built an automatic fish feeder and animatronic Christmas decorations. He loved decorating his house for Christmas, always making sure that there were blinker lights above his children's bedroom windows, so they could see them flash at night. He built an intricate model train table complete with waterfall, river, lake, boats, and even a high dive raft (modeled after the real one he built for his children to play on).He enjoyed woodworking and taught 4-H for several years, naming his club the "Woody Chislers". Through the years, he made many nice pieces of furniture for his family.Don loved animals. In his youth he had an albino guinea pig named Porky and baby guinea pigs, a blue racer snake (acquired when a buddy put it in his sleeping bag), and two terriers, Pepper and Terry. As an adult, he had gerbils, rabbits, turtles, fish and several dogs including Snoopy, Duke, Dutchess, and Smoky. His favorite was Dutchess.He prided himself on the mini golf course he built in his backyard (complete with water and sand hazards). He was a terrible golfer, but loved it. He loved pond gardening and kept a pond full of turtles and Koi for years.After retirement from AT&T in Ann Arbor where he worked as a supervisor, he enjoyed puttering around his house and barn. He loved to cook. He loved Chinese food, especially Egg Foo Young. He also loved ice cream, malts, pecan pie, cashew brittle, and horehound candy. Once Esther retired, they spent 6-8 weeks each winter with their motorhome in Gulf Shores AL and Clewiston FL. He enjoyed these trips and also loved watching his grandchildren play at the lake in the summer.Don is survived by his loving wife Esther H. (Neuman) of Pinckney; daughter Cheryl A. (Rick) Lyons of Pinckney; son Mark D. (Jenny) Gibb of Linden MI; daughter Kristen L. (Richard) Daniels of Lapeer MI; 8 grandchildren: Stuart and Elliott Lyons, David Hall, Lindsey and Madeline Gibb, Joseph, Matthew, and Kara Daniels; one sister Patricia A. (Dennis) Shimkus of Blackshear GA and numerous nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers memorial donations to Shalom Lutheran Church for the purpose of new worship technical equipment.

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