Obituary of Roberta Lee Gibson

Roberta (Robbi) Lee Gibson, 68

Loving wife, Military spouse, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Traveler, Fisherwoman.

Safety Harbor, Florida – Robbi Gibson passed away suddenly yet peacefully at home on Saturday, September 23, 2023. Robbi leaves behind her husband of 42 years, Stephen Gibson along with many relatives and friends in Florida, Massachusetts and points in between.

A native Floridian, Robbi was born on MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida to Sgt Robert Castaldo, USAF of Bayonne, NJ and Mary L. West of Lithia, FL. She was afforded a taste of military life growing up around Homestead Air Force Base, Florida and Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota as a young child.

Eventually she would settle in Sarasota, Florida where she met her future husband, Stephen. Robbi loved to travel and was dedicated to a life of service. Stephen joined the U.S. Coast Guard for a 20 year hitch and together they lived happily in Coast Guard locations across the United States - Washington DC (two times), Corpus Christi TX, Pensacola FL, Carmichael CA, and Safety Harbor, FL. Fulfilling a life-long dream, Robbi returned to school and earned a Master’s of Science degree from Corpus Christi State University (now Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi) so she could give back to the community as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor. Always focused, Robbi studied and served in many places across this country; at Charter Mental Health Hospital with adolescents in Corpus Christi, Texas, in Georgetown University Hospital’s Psychiatric Department (Washington, DC) with outpatient clients, a school setting at Lakeview Center in Pensacola, Florida for severely emotionally disturbed (SED) children, and with at-risk children at Families First near Davis, California.

Later in life, Robbi shifted gears a bit by working with people of all ages (but primarily seniors) at The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast throughout Pinellas County, Florida.

Robbi travelled all over this great country. Back country parts of Alaska, Hawaii, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Colorado, northern California, Nevada, the Great Smoky Mountains, and Cape Cod were special, favorite places. She was an avid reader, especially enjoying Native American non-fiction and fiction themes. She also loved all the Harry Potter books. Robbi picked up her husband’s (and her in-law’s) love of the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots, cheering her teams on to World Series and Super Bowl victories or crushing defeats. Robbi had diverse past times; thrift store browsing and shopping, renovating her kitchen while her husband was deployed to Senegal in Africa for five months of work, collecting beach glass on Cape Cod and sharks teeth on Nokomis or Casperson beaches in Venice, Florida, and fishing on Tampa Bay and on little known local shorelines with family and friends catching redfish, snook, speckled trout, and even the odd tarpon.

There will be no services as Robbi wished for a simple scattering of her ashes on her favorite beach. If you would like to honor her life in some way, please make a donation in her name to your local Hospice organization.