Trinidad Veteran Jess "Gib" Gibson, 84, Passes Away April 2

At 18 years old, just six weeks past his birthday, Jess L. "Gib" Gibson enlisted in the United States Navy. The date was August 31, 1959. The young man from Bonners Ferry, Idaho, was beginning a journey that would eventually bring him south to Trinidad, where he spent the better part of his adult life and where he died April 2, 2026.

Gibson was born July 20, 1941, in Granada, Colorado, to Philo and Eva Marie (Minder) Gibson. The family later settled in the Idaho panhandle, where he grew up before Navy service took him out into a wider world. He eventually returned to Colorado and planted himself in Trinidad, building the community ties that would define the longer arc of his life in Las Animas County.

His death at 84 traced the full reach of that life, from Granada on the southeastern Colorado plains, a small town barely five miles from the Kansas state line, to Trinidad at the foot of Raton Pass. Between those two places lay Navy service, decades of community presence, and the kind of local rootedness that Trinidad's longtime residents recognize in their own neighbors.

Las Animas County carries a deep tradition of military service, and Gibson was part of that lineage: a veteran whose years after discharge shaped his community as much as his time in uniform did. His obituary was posted by KRTN Enchanted Air Radio on April 8, six days after his passing, as part of the station's long-standing role documenting local lives across the Trinidad and Raton region. The notice includes memorial arrangements and contact information for the family.

Those who knew Gibson during his years in Trinidad are encouraged to share memories and condolences through the KRTN memorial page, where the community record of his life remains open to those who want to add their voices to it.

He is survived by family members listed in the KRTN notice. He was 84.