Obituary: Joan Carol (Gibbons) Saxby
Author: Family of: Joan Carol (Gibbons) Saxby
Joan Carol (Gibbons) Saxby
Family of Joan Carol (Gibbons) Saxby
Joan Carol (Gibbons) Saxby was born March 12, 1945, in Southgate, California, the middle of 5 daughters for Hector and June Gibbons. Her younger years were marked by numerous moves as a husband tried to please a wife that never seemed satisfied with where she was located. By 1960, she was living in a house her father had built in the Sierra Nevada mountains about 20 miles southeast of Placerville, California. Her nearest neighbor was the Saxby family at an irrigation company’s dam, two miles away. Joan was in high school and her two younger sisters were in grade school. It wasn’t cost effective to drive a bus out to pick them up each day, so an arrangement was made to have the Saxby’s son, also in high school, drive all of them to the grammar school. This was also the high school pickup point for the 18-mile drive to high school. This led to Joan marrying Bob Saxby in 1965.
The newlywed couple moved to San Luis Obispo, so Bob could graduate in 1967, and began a 27-year career in the Army. The first 8 years without children were exciting, blending into the military regime of changing uniforms, odd hours of activity, fancy dress balls, sudden moves without warning and the excitement of visiting destinations around the world. In 1969 and 70, Joan was alone living in Sacramento as Bob was in Vietnam. A year of language training at the Presidio of Monterey, two years in Germany with trips all over Europe from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Circle, then back to Maryland for a year. Suddenly, the carefree time without kids ended with a son (Will) born 1973 in Bethesda, Maryland, a daughter (Tamara) 1975 in Fort Knox and back to Germany. The pace never slowed, the times running a household alone were constant, but Joan was always there, making a home for her soldier to come home to. Another move back to Ft Ord and a third child, a son (Jon) 1980, was born. In 1986, the Army assigned Bob to support the Montana National Guard stationed in Bozeman, Montana. For the first time in her life, Joan had a home of her own. There were animals around the property, a job she enjoyed and three kids in school.
Bob retired in 1993, and life became totally different. Joan was a housewife divorced from a controlling military. Normality at last, stability, future planning and reliable hours were to be enjoyed as she joined in purchasing the Mustang Motel in Townsend in 2003. This was to be the retirement they had discussed for many years. In 2005, her world was turned upside down with a diagnosis of cancer. For twenty years, she fought the cancer and many of the related accompanying side effects. But in the end, all the chemicals used to prolong life were too much. She passed from this mortal coil the day after Christmas, 2025.
Throughout her life, one thing was constant, no matter the circumstances, no matter the location and it was repeated in one of the last things she ever said. “I love you.”
No words can ever express how much she will be missed.
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Family of Joan Carol (Gibbons) Saxby
