Martha "Mimi" Gibson Westerfield

Martha (“Mimi”) Gibson Westerfield, 94, passed away peacefully at home on May 5 following a long illness.

Born in Lexington, KY, she was the seventh of eight children of John Forest and Helen Gibson.

Mimi attended the University of Kentucky, before meeting Robert (“Wes”) Irvine Westerfield Jr. (an only child!) at a gathering of bachelors on the Kentucky River. They married in 1952. They moved to Fort Wayne, IN, in 1958, where they lived for 40 years and raised their family. Then they headed for the ocean and the Southeast in 1998.

A lover of “home,” Mimi felt called to make a home for Wes and her children. Friends knew her as an outstanding cook and a generous host. She loved decorating her house. Music and gardening were also her passions. She opened the door to everyone: twenty foster babies, two little brothers who through a church program visited and spent weekends with the family, her kids’ high school friends who came for sleepovers and over many years still called her “Mom.”

Mimi was an adventurous and free spirit who loved traveling and seeing the world, whether camping at the Michigan dunes on a family vacation, visiting the Southwest, living in Berlin, Germany, or touring Maui.

Mimi is survived by her daughters, Leigh Westerfield of Bluffton, SC, and Gail Westerfield of Bluffton, SC; her sons, Robert Irvine Westerfield Jr. (Melissa) of Laguna Beach, CA, and Mark Westerfield (Lisa) of Keswick, VA; her grandchildren, Lauren Westerfield (Alijah) of Spokane, WA; Kara Westerfield (Nathan) of Keswick, VA; and Eric Westerfield (Somi Yoo) of Hookset, NH; and great-grandchildren, Gabriel Henderson and Emelia Henderson of Keswick, VA.

A private graveside service will be held at Lexington Cemetery.