Kathy Gibbs Receives Doc Quick Staff Award at Mississippi College

Mississippi College Kinesiology Department secretary Kathy Gibbs is pictured in front of Cockroft Hall.

When Kathy Gibbs visits scenic places like Pennsylvania Dutch Amish Country and Niagara Falls, New York this summer, she will leave behind many friends at Mississippi College.

It’s hard to see her go, but Kathy clearly earned her MC retirement after 30 years working on the Clinton campus.

Before she and her husband, Charles, begin their road adventures in June, Mississippi College leaders honored Kathy with one of the institution’s top awards. At the Christian university’s Spring commencement, Gibbs was named recipient of the Doc Quick Staff Member of the Year Award.

Announced in early May, the award represents a tribute to the late Doc Quick, an iconic administrator and friend to many who love the Blue and Gold. The 2016 award winner diligently served the university’s Kinesiology Department as its tireless secretary the past 14 years.

Department Chairman Chris Washam pours on the praise. “Whatever success the department has enjoyed in the last 14 years since it was founded is in no small part due to her kind and loyal service.”

Gibbs, he said, “has been a dedicated and much loved member of our family in the Department of Kinesiology since its inception.” No doubt, Kathy is “much deserving of this honor.”

From her office on the first floor of Cockroft Hall, Gibbs always puts a smile on her face as she helps hundreds of kinesiology majors, professors, staff and parents.

Born in California, the Clinton resident grew up in Wichita, Kansas. She married a native Mississippian from Forest and made the move from sub-freezing Midwest winters to sultry summers in the Deep South. Kathy and her husband, Charles, have lived for more than 40 years in the Magnolia State.

After graduating high school in Wichita and starting her undergraduate studies at Wichita State University, Kathy transferred to Baptist-affiliated Mississippi College as a sophomore. It took her many years to graduate because she stayed home with her children as they grew up. Kathy finally earned her bachelor’s in home economics from MC in the early 1990s with an emphasis on early childhood education.

Her staff jobs in the Home Economics Department and later Kinesiology were “always interesting and learning experiences,” Gibbs said. When the MC Lab School was housed in Cockroft Hall, she was delighted to spend part of her day working with preschool children.

“I had the best of worlds – interactions with adults, students and children. I have worked with the best people, too! That’s what I will miss the most – my wonderful MC family.”

Her immediate family will play a pretty big role in her retirement years. Kathy and Charles have three grown/married children living nearby in Madison, Clinton and Raymond. The Clinton couple stays busy on the ballfields and elsewhere with their nine grandchildren, ages 1-15. Hobbies for the MC staffer include sewing to embroidery. Kathy and Charles Gibbs team up to maintain a small garden at home, and remain active members of First Baptist Church Clinton.

After looking over the outstanding winners of the Doc Quick Award in past years, “I was humbled to be included in this list,” Kathy Gibbs said. She speaks with fondness about Doc Quick who helped her get enrolled at MC as a student back in 1971.

While her many years of assisting Mississippi College students will end June 3, Kathy expects to begin additional volunteer assignments to serve her Hinds County hometown.