Editor’s note: This article by Derek Carson was published in the Bennington Banner on Dec. 6, 2016.
BENNINGTON — The Vermont Veterans Home will be getting a new pavilion in the coming months, and it will be named after the man who made it possible.
Alan Gibney, who lived at the home and died in 2014 after a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, donated roughly $100,000 to the Friends of the Vermont Veterans Home, for the purpose of constructing the pavilion.
“He was a true fighter, and didn’t let his ALS define who he was,” said Melissa Jackson, VVH chief executive officer and administrator. “We were fortunate to have him here.”
Jackson said that Gibney had participated in fishing derbies, which are held twice annually in the home’s duck pond, and had seen the difficulty wheelchair bound residents had in accessing the pond. Now, thanks to his donation, they will have a covered, paved area in which to enjoy the space.
The pavilion is expected to be completed in the next few months, weather permitting, said Jackson.
Gibney’s brother and sister-in-law, Robert and Salley Gibney, spoke at the groundbreaking, along with Jackson and Frederick Loy of the Friends of the Vermont Veterans Home.
Gibney served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1969 to 1976, in Thailand, Germany, and Vietnam. He left the Armed Forces with the rank of captain. After his military career, with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Clarkson University and a master’s degree in physical chemistry from Penn State, Gibney joined Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in Pittsburgh, where he worked for 35 years, working on engineering projects for submarines and aircraft carriers.
His final project before his early retirement due to the onset of ALS was the designing of the propulsion system for the advanced aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, according to his obituary.
Gibney was also the driving force behind creating an ALS support group at the Veterans Home, and helped organized Bennington County’s first Walk to Defeat ALS, which took place a few months after his death.
