By Brittney Mangum
bmangum@clarkecountytrib.com
“Take pride in what we have,” advised Angie Gibbs. “I realize that we don’t have a lot, but if you support what’s here, we will. So many times it’s easier to run to Meridian to Walmart because everything is all together, but when you come back home, we have schools and boutiques here. All of us together need to stay here to buy ads to keep our businesses that are already here. Support what’s here. I just wish we could be like most towns and stand together to make things better instead of separate to make things worse. United we will make it; divided we will fall. I just wish we had more positives about everything, from the schools to the economy with everyone just trying to make it better.”
Angie Gibbs loves her community and does everything she can to support it. Growing up, she learned the value of working hard and working together to achieve goals.
She grew up in a humble background and learned a variety of necessary skills that most people don’t know today.
“Growing up, we were pig farmers, so we learned to live off the land,” Angie reminisced. “We did chicken killings in the fall and hog killings in the fall. We did our own grease. We didn’t buy a lot. Mother made our clothes. My mother was in school most of our life because she was in nursing school while we were in school. Daddy kept us. He was a pig farmer and just farmer in general. Back in those days it was totally different from now because we all raised our food. It took forever for us to even have a dryer. We hung our clothes out. We had wood heat, so when it was cold it was cold and when it was hot it was hot. We didn’t have central air. We had window fans. That’s my generation.”
Her upbringing brought about a love of the outdoors, and she enjoys spending any free time she has outside or doing another hobby that she learned from her mom: canning.
“I love gardening and grass cutting. I just love outside. That’s my big thing, being outside and canning,” expressed Angie. “My mother taught me to can and still cans at 80. We do tomato juice, string beans, corn, peas, potatoes, chilis, fruits, and jams. Anything can be canned if you know what you’re doing.”
While she loves working outside, she also valued her education. Angie made sure to continue her education before getting married and starting a family of her own. Over the years, her family has grown, and she has loved every minute of it.
“I went to Quitman until the tenth grade and then left and graduated from Clarke Academy. I went to Jones Junior College and got an Associate’s Degree, and while I was at Great Southern, I took a lot of business and finance classes. I could have gone to be a teacher or accountant, but I got married and never went back,” explained Angie. “I have recently remarried to Billy Joe Gibbs after losing my husband, Gary Chisholm. We have three children: we have Laura and Carrie Chisholm and Justin and his wife Amy, and we have two grandchildren, Paxton and Aiden. My mother recently remarried at 80, so our new family is Mr. Johnny Ray Jackson. We acquired some new family members, so I’ve learned how to combine a family.”
Even though she has gotten married and started her own family, she still enjoys the farm life.
“We have 40 acres. We had chickens and cows,” described Angie. “We do our cattle. We’re bottle feeding a calf right now, Chocolate Chip. My husband and I have cattle, and we have the little miniature goats. We have two of those, Dolly and Tinkerbell. We still have my show goat that I bought about seven years ago from 4-H, and her name is Cinnamon. We have about 12 dogs; we have rabbit dogs, and then we have my yard dogs. We have two houses. One house is mine and is where we live, and we have his house where we visit. That’s where the farm is. The only thing I don’t have that I’ve always had is horses. I’ll eventually get back in it. It’s just hard when you work and have something that takes a lot of upkeep.”
She has always been a hard worker and loves working closely with the public. After maintaining multiple jobs dealing with finance, she was finally able to achieve her dream job working at the Clarke County Courthouse.
“I was in banking for probably 20 years. I just love people, and I’ve worked at all the banks,” informed Angie. “I worked at Great Southern from ’86 to ’91 and from ’91 to ’95 worked at what was Southeast Bank before it sold. Then, I opened First State Bank with Mack Stephens in ’97. I always had a goal of being here at the courthouse. I tried several years to get jobs and never got hired here, so I ran for office and was elected in ’03. I’ve been here five terms and hope to have another one.”
She loves her job and her work family. While the various tasks she is responsible for isn’t always easy, she wouldn’t trade it for anything.
“I love it. Just think. You have all of history here. I love running title. I’m good at title. I can tell you in just a few minutes all about yourself just from running title,” explained Angie. “If you’ve never done it, it’s just a wonderful world of knowledge from the 1800s where people would leave a horse and buggy to borrow money. It’s all history here and the way life was. It’s wonderful here. There are a lot of things. I mean we have our bad. We have court. We do deeds, deeds of trust, divorce, child support, guardianship, conservatorships, youth court, and adoption. Then, I’m the treasurer and clerk of the board. I am the audit. I am what is called public service, meaning we can’t give you all of what we do because we do it all. We do mental commitments too.”
On top of her busy schedule with being Chancery Clerk and working on their little farm, Angie also takes the time to participate in different organizations in the county to show her support.
“I’m in Quitman Woman’s Club and attend those meetings when I can,” declared Angie. “I’ve dealt with 4-H for at least 30 years. My kids showed over there, and I showed over there. I’ve only missed one sale in 20 years, and it was because my mom wasn’t doing well with cancer treatment. That’s the only sale I’ve ever missed, but I still spend money there. It’s hard work, and I wish everybody would support that too.”
No matter what she does, Angie does everything in her power to support and assist everyone she can in the community. While she isn’t always able to help like she would like because of various obstacles or laws, she wants to be able to make others’ lives easier and better when possible. She will continue to work hard each day to inspire and encourage all those around her.
If you would like to nominate someone for Person of the Week, contact Brittney Mangum at 601-776-3726.
