Arthur Gibb Vermont Legislator And Environmentalist Arthur Gibb, whose long career contributed to the preservation of Vermonts heritage, has died at 97. He was born in 1908 in New York City and educated in New York and Connecticut, graduating from Yale in 1930. He married his childhood friend from across the street, Barbara Lowrie, and worked during the depression in railroad transportation and banking, after which he opened a financial consulting firm on Wall Street. World War II was a defining experience. He volunteered for the U.S. Navy and served more than two years in combat aboard the U.S.S. Lexington, rising to the key role of Air Operations Officer. He was decorated with the Bronze Star, the Presidential Unit Citation, and ten battle stars. His present rank is Captain, U.S.N. (Ret.). In 1950, after a postwar stint on Wall Street, he and Barbara realized a long-anticipated escape from New York suburbia to Weybridge, Vermont. For nearly fifty years thereafter they managed a household of work, children, relatives near and far, animals, traveling sports teams, and visitors from cities and foreign lands. The home was characterized by spirited conversation, noisy meals, music, and especially outdoor sports - repeatedly informed by the booming patriarchal admonition, Now lets get organized! Gibb began public service as a fence viewer in the town of Weybridge, and extended his contributions more widely over time. He served as a trustee of Porter Medical Center in Middlebury for thirty years, as a director of the Parent Child Center of Addison County, as a member of the Addison County Regional Planning Commission, as a trustee of the Baird Center for Children in Burlington, as a member of the state committee of the YMCA, as a trustee of the Vermont Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, and finally as a member of the board of Elderly Services in Middlebury. When he entered politics in 1963, his media strategy was to visit homes and farms throughout Addison County by bicycle, handing out pocket-sized flyers, and talking, as he put it, as little as possible. In the ensuing twenty-four years his expenses for campaigns never exceeded $300.00. Early on in the Vermont legislature he chaired the Natural Resources Committee. Keying in on an emerging environmental ethos, his committee succeeded with legislation to ban billboards, recycle bottles, and fence off junk yards, and it went on to set up a state zoning system with local and regional planning commissions. In a second phase with concerns about the environmental consequences of uncontrolled development, especially in southern Vermont with rapid ski area development, Governor Dean Davis appointed him chair of the Governors Commisssion on Environmental Control. The Gibb Commission worked over the summer of 1969 holding many hearings. The result of their work was Act 250, Vermonts pioneering land use legislation which is studied and referenced nationwide. Gibb moved to the Vermont Senate in 1971, and served successively as chair of the Natural Resources and Finance Committees. He was held in esteem for creating an atmosphere of mutual respect and building consensus. Such was his stature that, when he took a position on an issue, he was never accused of acting out of political motivations, and in one year both parties asked him to run on their tickets. At the end of his lengthy service in the state legislature, his colleagues spontaneously ponied up the funds to commission his portrait. The painting is one of only four on the state house walls which are not of governors or generals, a testimony to his imprint on Vermont history. First appointed by Governor Madeline Kunin, Gibb served several terms on the State Environmental Board, the judicial body which heard appeals to Act 250 cases. Thus he contributed in a different branch of government to confirm the work which he had started as a legislator. He served for twelve years, including the last one as chair at the age of 89. Arthur Gibbs service in Vermont has been recognized by a Vermont Chamber Of Commerce Good Citizen award, by the Environmental Protection Agencys Environmental Merit Award in 1985, by Rep. James Jeffords testimonial in the U.S. Congressional Record in 1986, by the Audubon Legislation Award in 1987, by a Middlebury College Doctor Of Laws in 1992, and by the Otter Creek Audubon Society Silver Feather Award in 2001. Gibbs colleagues admired his willingness to drive across the state on snowy nights after meetings, for the grace with which he worked with people his childrens, and later, his grandchildren's age, and for his habit of napping in his Jeep while his colleagues broke for lunch. He was passionate about food, classical music, history, and Vermont. He loved his dogs and horses, and could be found often riding the roads and fields near Snake Mountain. Winter was his favorite season because of skiing. He raced cross-country with his granddaughters into his eighties, and skied downhill every chance he could get. He would proudly tell how he skied his last season at age 88. After he had lost his dear wife, many friends in the community, his home to fire, and his eyesight, the kindest thing he could say about old age was, You can have the nineties. Yet the man who had thrived on action, adjusted resiliently to the role of a frail old person. Friends and family visited him from afar, drawn by his dignity, lucidity, and abrupt humor. When a visitor in the hospital teased that it wasn't all bad to be in a place where people were willing to pick things up when he dropped them, he responded, Just don't feed Jell-O to a blind man. He is survived by his daughter Barbara Otsuka of Middlebury, and by sons Dwight of Seattle, Arthur, Jr. of Annapolis, Lowrie of Westport, CT, and Henry of Boulder, CO, as well as by ten grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. References: Rep. James Jeffords, testimonial, Congressional Record, October 14, 1986, H 10032. John McCardell, Citation for Doctor of Laws, Middlebury College, May 24, 1992. Abbott Fenn, Otter Creek Audubon Society, November, 2001. People who know Arthur Gibb and can speak of him: Sen. Jim Jeffords Sen. Patrick Leahy Former Governor Phil Hoff Former Governor Howard Dean Former President of Middlebury College, John McCardell Services will be held Sunday, November 20th, 2005 at 3pm at the Weybridge Congregational Church, ten minutes from the town of Middlebury, VT.