Robert Hillry Gibson

Robert Hillry Gibson

Robert Hillry Gibson was born May 17, 1892 at Summers,

Arkansas, and died there December 19, 1970. He was the son of

John (Bud) Gibson and Hettie Gertrude Alexander Gibson.

Hillry was married February 14, 1914 to Iva Marie Moore, born

August 7, 1894, and died July 10, 1977. She was the daughter of

Wilson Moore and Minnie Payne Moore. Children: Virginia

Ruth Gibson and Genevieve Gibson.

I. Virginia Ruth Gibson, born June 6, 1918 was married May,

1946 to John Rector Kirk, born March 23, 1916 and died

February, 1983, the son of Robert E. Lee and "Angie" (Nancy

Angeline) Little Kirk, all of Summers, Arkansas. One child,

Gerita Kay Kirk was born February 1, 1950 and was married July

15, 1975 to Charles Moreton, born February 23, 1947, Alma,

Arkansas. They had two children: Dax Rhys Moreton, born

December 9, 1978 and Dayne Ives Moreton, born September 14,

1982. II. Genevieve Gibson was born July 25, 1921, died June 17,

1985, was married September 4, 1946 to Covil Arthur Scott, who

was born January 16, 1913 at Snowball, Arkansas, the son of

George Dallas Scott and Maud E. Scott. Their children: Warren

Keith Scott and Colleen Marie Scott. (1) Warren Keith Scott was

born February 10, 1948 and married July 5, 1969 to Brenda

Charlene Cox, who was born April 12, 1956. She was the

daughter of Thurman Cox of Morrow, Arkansas. They had two

children, Robin Raquel Scott, born June 10, 1971 in Tulsa,

Oklahoma and Rhonda Renee Scott, born November 14, 1971 in

Tulsa, Oklahoma. (2) Colleen Marie Scott born April 12, 1956.

Colleen married May 19, 1979 to Gary Morris and they have

three children, Derk Morris born October 28, 1974, (Gary's son

by a previous marriage), Nicole Van Morris, born September 20,

1981 and Brandi Marie Morris, born December 18, 1983. Gary

and Colleen live on the old Pleasant West (or later George West)

farm.

Not long after Uncle Hillry and Aunt Iva married, they built

a house, barn and "cyclone cellar", on the east side of Uncle

Hillry's half of his father's land and they lived there for ten or

fifteen years. Hillry farmed with his step-father, John A. Tennant,

producing the usual crops, cattle and hogs. He also liked to trade

in livestock and was expert in that line. After some years, he and

his brother-in-law, Fred Summers, (son of John F. Summers, the

early-day merchant for when Summers, Arkansas is named)

formed a partnership and entered the mercantile business at

Summers.

Uncle Hillry had a small store in Summers at this time,

which I think he had bought from Earnst Kirk. I am not certain,

but Fred may have had a store there, also. At any rate, they

opened their store in the second building put up by Fred's father,

John F. Summers. It stood on the northwest corner of the Summers

crossroad and had a high, false front, as was the style. It was

in fact high enough for two stories and did have a second floor in

the rear, which served as an office. The front had shelves (almost

up to the ceiling), which held tubs, buckets, hats, horse collars,

hames, jugs, jars and "you name it". The dry goods and clothing

were on the north side and other things on the south. I recall

that Mr. Bob Boles, who lived just across the road south of the

store "clerked" for them for awhile. The Summers Mercantile

Company was a complete general store. They sold bolt goods for

making clothing, sheets, bed "tics" (to hold feathers for feather

beds), etc, hats, boots, thread, needles, groceries, candy, axes,

saws, nails, horseshoes, tobacco, cookies, pickles, vinegar,

kerosene, sacks of livestock feed and all the other items required

by a rural community. They bought, or "took in trade" live

poultry, eggs, apples, potatoes, cream, fur, sometimes coal for the

blacksmiths. They always had lots of huge firecrackers to sell at

Christmas time. (This was when we shot fireworks in those days.

Very seldom could you get them for the 4th of July.)

This business must have opened in the very late 1920s or

early thirties, and it prospered. Many other firms closed during

the early thirties, and Summers Mercantile became a busy trade

center, moving a block north to a larger building and stocking

more hardware and farm machinery parts.

Fred and Hillry also acquired sizeable tracts of land as it was

offered for sale and kept considerable herds of cattle and hogs. As

the business continued to prosper, other stores were established

and, at one time, they had stores in both Westville and Lincoln

and perhaps for a short time, at Cincinnati. Fred and Hillry

became prosperous farmers and merchants, continuing until they

were ready to retire, when they sold the business and divided the

real estate. I used to stay the night at Uncle Hillry's house in bad

weather, when I was a school boy. He seldom failed to see that

we had Van Camp's Pork and Beans for supper on those nights,

for he knew I liked them.

By: James E. Gibson