KIM GIBBENS

Kum Cha (Kim) Gibbens answered the call from her Creator and Redeemer in the early hours of October 12, 2023, ending a two-year battle recovering from a brain aneurysm and stroke. The daughter of Kim, Hyon Tuk and Yi, Yi Pun, she was born in Seoul, South Korea, on January 14, 1943. She immigrated to the United States in July 1978 and became a U. S. citizen on June 13, 1989. While employed as a tailor at Recruit Training Command, Orlando, FL, she met her future husband, Stephen Gibbens, in May 1981, whom she married on September 25, 1983. She embarked on a twenty-year career of frequent separations as a Navy wife living in Groton, CT (3 years), Yorktown, VA (6 years), San Diego, CA (3 years), Yokosuka, Japan (6 years) and Charleston, SC (1 year). Their daughter, Marie Ann, was born in July 1983 in Orlando, FL, and their son, Robert Stephen, in April 1986 in New London, CT. They retired to Yorktown, VA in 2022 where she oversaw the construction of two homes. For the 41 years of her marriage, she devoted herself to her family and her dog, Fred the dachshund. She enjoyed cooking, sewing, gardening, landscaping, and spending time with her family and friends.

Kim is survived by her husband, Stephen; son, Robert; daughter and highly approved of son-in-law, Marie and Martin Baptiste; and four Baptiste grandchildren, Michaela (19), Ethan (16), Morgan (9) and Benjamin (7); and sister, Il Rye Sung; nephew, Raymond French; and nieces, Wanda French and Sun Salisbury.

The funeral service will be 3:00 pm, October 23, 2023, at St. John Paul II Catholic Church, 127 Stone Mason Way, Ponte Vedra, FL, 32081. The service will be live-streamed at www.youtube.com/@FatherPagano1462

There will be a viewing prior to the funeral service starting at 2:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a donation be made to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation (www.bafound.org)