Betty Jane LeFever Gibson, 93, of Oakton

»Information from the Money and King Funeral Home and Cremation Services website.

Betty Jane LeFever Gibson, 93, of Sunrise Assisted Living in Oakton Va., formerly of Lancaster, Penn., died Sept. 9, 2015. She was the widow of the Rev. William A. Gibson, a minister in the Presbyterian Church USA, who died in Feb. 2000.

She was the daughter of Roy Breneman LeFever and Norma Henwood LeFever Toth, of Lancaster. A retired school teacher, she substituted at Hempfield and Donegal High Schools from 1984-1994. Prior to that, she taught for 12 years at Franklin Area High School in Venango County, Penn. following ten years in the Washington, D.C., area where she taught for five years at the Cynthia Warner School in Takoma Park, Md. and as a substitute teacher at the Holton Arms School in Bethesda, Md.

She was a January 1940 graduate of McCaskey High School in Lancaster, Penn. Due to her math acumen, she worked for the U.S. Navy testing chronometers at the Hamilton Watch Factory while also attending Millersville University, Penn., during World War II. She graduated from Penn State University in 1944 with a degree in secondary education. One of nine women in the first class of women students at Princeton Theological Seminary, she completed two years in the graduate School of Christian Education before her marriage in 1946. Her class notes are preserved in the manuscript archives of the Princeton Seminary Library’s Special Collections.

As the wife of a minister, she served with him in Presbyterian Churches USA in Susquehanna and Lucerne, Penn.; Harrison N.Y.; Jeannette and Greensburg, Penn.; a new church development in Rockville, Md., and finally in Franklin, Penn., before retirement to Lancaster. She re-joined her home church, First Presbyterian on Orange Street where she served as a student intern during the summer of 1946. At First Presbyterian she served as a deacon for 11 years, moderated the deacons and the Women’s Association, sang in the choir, served as a circle leader and as a member of several committees, collaborated in writing the 250 year history of that congregation, held offices in Presbyterian Women of the Presbytery of Donegal and in the local Church Women United.

She was predeceased by her brother, Stanton B. LeFever; her mother, Norma Henwood LeFever Toth; and her husband, all of Lancaster. She is survived by her sister, Nancy L. Hampton (widow of the Rev. Ormond L. Hampton) of Powder Springs, Ga.; three daughters: Nancy (husband Robert) of Bluffton, S.C., Judith of Lewes, Del., Susan (husband Joseph) of Vienna, Va.; one son, William (wife Ingrid), of Washington, D.C.; five grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at First Presbyterian Church, 140 E. Orange Street, Lancaster, Penn., 17602 on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015 at 11 a.m. A visitation will be held 10 a.m. until time of the service. Interment will be private in the Church Memorial Garden.

Gifts in her memory to the loving staff of Sunrise: “The Good Samaritan Fund”, Sunrise Senior Living/Oakton, 7902 Westpark Dr., McLean, Va., 22102 or to Capital Caring Hospice, www.capitalcaring.org/donate or flowers are welcome.