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04/19/2009
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Photo by Jason McKibbenfrom the Kennebec Journal
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BY BETTY ADAMS
Staff Writer
A community almost 500 strong said goodbye to 16-year-old Ricky Gibson on Saturday, gathering first at St. Francis Xavier Church in Winthrop and then at the parish hall to share memories of the boy who literally lit up his world.
Gibson, who lived in Wayne, and was a sophomore at Maranacook Community High School, died of a particularly aggressive form of brain cancer on April 10, seven months after the diagnosis.
But he left his mark on the field where he was able to play too few football games.
Gibson's legacy -- stadium lights -- stands high atop four poles at the high school in Readfield. And the second part of his dream -- the bleachers -- have yet to arrive.
Gibson wished for the lights and the bleachers even as he battled his cancer. When Make-A-Wish volunteers asked him what he wanted or where he wanted to go, he thought of his teammates. Gibson switched on the lights last December after businesses and community members added to the Make-A-Wish foundation's $6,000 grant.
And the lights were lit the night after Gibson died as his friends held a vigil.
At midday on Saturday, they remained off, waiting to light a football game, a track meet, maybe a soccer match.
Ronn Gifford, Maranacook track coach, repositioned track equipment in a small shed.
"You don't have to have known him to see what impact he's had on people's lives," Gifford said, looking at the lights.
The track and field athletes will compete under those lights this season, he said, "if it gets dark enough and gets late enough."
Having the lights do double duty for track was a standing joke between Gibson and Michael Boyman, a mathematics teacher at Maranacook and former track coach. "I used to thank him for finally getting me lights at the track," Boyman said at the funeral service.
Boyman talked of Gibson's rarely removed red baseball cap and of his unselfishness.
"Ricky taught most of us over the last eight months that life is short and full of unexpected surprises," Boyman said.
Mary DeMarsh, Gibson's physical therapist, said she met with Gibson biweekly, first doing aggressive physical therapy, and then providing "comfort care."
As she spoke at a lectern next to the urn with Ricky's ashes, she recalled telling the boy, "I won't give up hope until I'm standing at your funeral." Several hundred balloons brightened the church interior, and a large smiley face crafted of black and yellow flowers rested on a field of green. Two towers of flowers, reminiscent of goal posts, framed the smile.
Rick Morand, of Maranacook Football Inc., said Gibson's contribution will come in more forms than lights and bleachers, perhaps even some invisible assists. "Maranacook will forever more play with a 12th man, Maranacook No. 34, Ricky Gibson."
Harry Lanphear, who help with the fundraising effort and knew him best for basketball -- "that other sport I hate to mention here" -- characterized Gibson as a passionate leader.
"Please don't be sad because Ricky isn't here anymore. We had him with us for 16 years," Lanphear said. "You're our hero, Ricky."
Gov. John E. Baldacci, in a statement released shortly after Gibson's death, said he had been privileged to meet Gibson several times. "He selflessly turned his wish from the Make-A-Wish Foundation into a wish for the town, and motivated an entire community in the process," Baldacci said.
Baldacci ordered flags to fly at half-staff on Saturday in the towns of Manchester, Wayne, Mount Vernon and Readfield, the communities that made up Maranacook.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation's Web site says it reaches 167,000 children and has 25,000 volunteers worldwide.
Gibson was among a number of selfless teens, who, in the face of life-threatening illnesses, placed others' needs first.
An orphanage in Kenya now carries the name of John Halgrim, who was 15 and dying of a malignant brain tumor in Fort Myers, Fla., in 2007 when he told Make-A-Wish volunteers he wished to start an orphanage in Africa.
And the children on the home page of Make-A-Wish Foundation, www.wish.org, express a number of different wishes. Some seek a makeover for their bedroom, a trip to Disney World, a party, and some a chance to better their community and the world.
Betty Adams -- 621-5631
badams@centralmaine.com
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