Lorna Faith Gibson

Lorna Faith Gibson

Lorna Faith Gibson died Monday (July 21, 2008) at Asbury Park in Newton.

She was born Dec. 5, 1917, in Vermont to Frank and Bernice (Cox) Gibson. Her father died when she was five years old.

When Lorna turned 13, her mother felt God was calling her to be a missionary to the people of Israel, so she took her two children, Curtis and Lorna, to Israel, where the two children went to school. Lorna attended a British school, Jerusalem Girls' College, for three and half years.

Lorna returned to the United States to live in the Westervelt Home for missionaries' children in Columbia, S.C. Curtis, who was two years older, was already there. Lorna finished high school in 1936.

Their mother stayed in Israel, and among other works, produced a hardback Hebrew Hymnal with notes - no small task since Hebrew is read from right to left but music from left to right.

Lorna attended Columbia Bible College in South Carolina and graduated in 1941 with a bachelor of arts degree in Bible. After that, she was two years a missionary in the Kentucky Mountains, teaching seventh and eighth graders. Lorna said, 'The Lord was training me to get along without electricity and without running water. I got chilblains in my feet because there was no way to heat the house.'

She begun her studies in linguistics with the Summer Institute of Linguistics at Bacone College in 1944. In the summer of 1945 and several summers thereafter, she was on the staff of SIL.

She joined Wycliffe Bible Translators and went to Mexico with the goal of translating the New Testament in a language that had no portion of God's Word. In 1945, she became the co-worker of Anne Blackman, who had begun the work among the Central Pame Indians in the state of the San Luis Potosi.

Lorna earned a master's degree in Linguistics from Indiana University, and she had some articles published in scientific journals.

During a period of 45 years, Lorna was in missionary work. With co-worker Norma Smith, who had joined her in 1960, she produced several books in Pame, including many of the New Testament books. The most recent one is the Gospel of John, which Lorna recorded on cassette tapes and now is in the hands of the Pame Indians. The printed book of John is also available.

She has no close relatives but has a host of friends and colleagues, including the Pame people who honor her for her selfless and dedicated service.

Visitation will be from 1 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Broadway Colonial Funeral Home in Newton.

Funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home chapel. Pastor Don Myers will preside.

Burial will be at Greenwood Cemetery in Newton.

Memorials may be made to the Wycliffe Bible Translators in care of the funeral home.

Friends may sign the book online at www.broadwaycolonialfh.com.