Billie Jean (Queen) Gibbons

Billie Jean Queen Gibbons died September 11, 2024 surrounded by family following a long illness after a stroke in February, 2023.

Billie Jean was born in Ashland KY on October 6, 1929 to Hermia (Dennis) Queen and William Franklin Queen. As an only child of a working mother, her Aunt Maggie (Dennis) and Uncle Stanley Miller helped raise her with her cousins: Joe, Stanley, Marjorie (Sister) and Eugene.

Billie Jean's intelligence gave her a leg up in school where she skipped two grades and graduated from Ashland High School at age sixteen. She went to work for Ashland Oil where she met a US Navy man, Joel E. Gibbons, Jr. They married in the fall of 1947 and raised five children with love and devotion mainly in Versailles KY. They were married 25 years.

Billie Jean was known for her speedy typing skills, excellent grammar and spelling. Her high level of sociability made her a natural in jobs in banking, law and as private secretary of “Happy” Chandler, former governor of Kentucky. Billie Jean retired from Proctor & Gamble as executive secretary at the Jif Peanut Butter plant in Lexington and found her way to Nicholasville where she lived for over 30 years.

She was a member of St. Luke's Catholic Church where she had such an enthusiasm for the Church's recycling can fund-raiser that all her friends called her the “Can Lady”. Billie Jean brought sparkle and pizazz to the Nicholasville's square-dance club & toured Central Kentucky to other clubs' events.

Billie Jean was a sparkling presence (literally) at the Silver Sneakers exercise program until 2020. Exercise certainly kept her on her feet and capable of tending her home, cooking and grocery shopping until she moved to Cedarhurst Senior Living in late 2022. The great blessing there was the many friends she met who saw her through her last few years with on-going kindnesses.

For fun Mom worked the New York Times' crossword in ink, solved the Jumble before breakfast and let nothing divert her attention between 7 – 8 PM when Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune aired.

Billie Jean loved her birthday - as full of anticipation and wonder as a child - especially at her many birthday cards. She saw that her family and friends were celebrated too with specially chosen cards, sometimes found months ahead of time, addressed in her lovely handwriting and decorated with special stickers and stamps to match the friend's interests.

Billie Jean's tender heart kept an eye on aging friends who struggled with illnesses or deaths in their families. She would wrap them back into life with casual calls and visits and by driving them to the Birthday Club lunch, breakfast at The Cottage or coffee at MacDonald's.

As lively and outgoing as Billie Jean was, she cherished time at home with her dogs. Happy who survives her has been adopted by her neighbors Steve and Pat Nussbaum. They will wave her across the Rainbow Bridge to a reunion with Misty, Willie, Mali, Cindy, Maggie and other beloved dogs, as well as a flock of parakeets and cockatiels – all of which she named Daisy. Early mornings spent on her screened-in porch enjoying the birdsong and beauty of Kentucky's lush greenery and changing skies she called her “happy place”.

Billie Jean raised five children: Suzanne (David) Shelley of Poulsbo WA; April (Dannie, deceased) Byrd of Lancaster, Jill (Nasser) Mirhosseyni of Urbana Il, Stan (Shalia) Gibbons of Paris KY and Joel (Robin Wilkerson) Gibbons of Lancaster. She was “Jeannie” to seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Her beloved cousin, Carolyn (Miller) Alexander of Ashland KY and Orlando FL also survives her. We will truly miss our dynamic, independent matriarch who loved her family and her deep Kentucky roots.

Gathered at the river she will be welcomed by her son Stan Gibbons of Paris KY who crossed over in January 2024; Stan's son, Jesse Gibbons of Nicholasville who died in 2014; and Joe Gibbons of Wilmore who passed in 2008.

The family would like to thank her attendants at Cedarhurst of Nicholasville and Landmark of Lancaster for their care and concern while our mother made her home with them.

Viewing will be held at Hager and Cundiff Funeral Home in Nicholasville on Wednesday, September 18, from 4-8 PM. The Funeral Mass will be at St. Luke's Catholic Church at 12:00 PM Thursday, September 19, followed by a grave side service at Maple Grove Cemetery.  Serving as pallbearers are Casey Byrd, Nikki Mirhosseyni, Joel Gibbons, Dave Brown, Curtis Adams, Gene Brooks, and Matt Blair. Honorary pallbearers include Steve Nussbaum, Lin Hale, Don Taylor, and Billie Jean's beloved dog Happy.

Billie Jean admired the work of the Father Beiting Appalachian Mission Center (www.fbamc-ky.org). Either flowers or donations in her name would honor her.

This obituary was lovingly submitted by Billie Jean’s family.  All arrangements are under the care of Hager & Cundiff Funeral Home.  We would like to express our deepest sympathy to Billie Jean's family and friends.