Andrew "Andy" was the next to the last children born to A.C. and Abigail. The last son (whose name I don't know) is buried in the Caulksville Cemetery in Caulksville, Arkansas. After suffering with complications from the birth of this baby, Abigail died. Myrtle, John, and Andy were taken to be raised by their grandmother, Bettie Spencer Gibson, and grandfather, John Calvin Gibson.
It has been common knowledge in the Gibson family that Andy received special affection from Bettie. This was passed down verbally by Myrtle and John. When the grandparents would go to town, they would always bring Andy back a surprise, and that usually meant a bag of candy. If that wasn't hard enough to understand by his brother and sister, he was not made to share with them either! Andy became known by another nickname of "Candy Jim" or just "Jim". Walter Gibson, A.C.'s brother and Andy's uncle, continued to call him by that name until the day he passed away.
Andy was named after Bettie's son by her first marriage to a Howard. Andy's namesake was Andrew Howard who lived in the Logan County area until his death. Andrew Howard was killed when a tree fell and crushed him.
Bettie had promised Abigail that she would raise her children and was able to hold on to them even after several attempts by A.C. Gibson to take them with him. Myrtle recalled one instance of her father having hold of one arm and Grandma Bettie having hold of the other, and both were determined to have her! This seems to have been an ongoing dispute between Bettie and her son. Andy always spoke of his grandmother as the special person in his life.
Andy and Eva move to California in the 1930's, as did a lot of people from Arkansas and Oklahoma. Times were hard, and there were promises of a better life there. Andy worked for Clew's Brothers for many years as a laborer and labor foreman. He was hard working and fairly hard living.
After coming back to Arkansas in the late 1940's after 19 years in California, he found it hard to get work. The family moved into an old house near the Confederate Picnic grounds east of Charleston, Franklin County, Arkansas. There was no running water or indoor plumbing. The house was heated by coal in a fireplace. He bought a cow, "Bossie", chickens, and a hog. After a while things picked up, and the family moved to town. Andy drove a dump truck, flat bed truck, and hauled cattle in the next few years.
Andy then went to work for the Mississippi Valley Construction Co. from Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He was a foreman for years, placing rock dikes and revetments on the Arkansas River. The Corp of Engineers were preparing the Arkansas River for navigation. He worked on jobs in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. The company went bankrupt in the 1960's. When this happened, he lost almost all of his retirement.
Andy had a massive heart attack while starting his lawnmower at this home in Charleston. This forced him to retire at the age of 53. He traded cars, and traveled back and forth from Kansas City with other men doing the same thing. He and his cousin, Otis Gibson, logged many miles on Highway 71 North.
Andy had a lung removed due to cancer. Just before his three year checkup that would have provided a "clean bill of health", it was learned that he had throat cancer. He had quit smoking cigarettes, but he always felt that this was the cause of his cancer. He smoked for 50 years.
He was a man that loved his family. He was a hard worker, working long hours -- leaving at 4:00am and getting home sometimes after 7:00pm. He was also like many other Gibson men in that he would take a drink or two. Alcohol seems to have been a problem in several different lines of the Gibson Family. He is buried in Garden of Memories Cemetery in Charleston, Arkansas.