CALIFORNIA — Ruth Bryana "Billie" Gibbs died February 22, 2019, following a period of decline after a January fall.

Billie Gray was born on September 11, 1933, in Seaforth, Ontario, and was orphaned as an infant.  

She was raised by Capt. Roy Goodell and his wife, Gladys, until her teenage years, when she met and fell in love with the drummer in a band, Neil Gibbs, of Brooks.  They married on New Year's Eve 1950, when she was a senior in high school.

They were married for 66 years. They settled in Morrill and had three children, Julie, Jeff, and Lynn.  

When they moved to the big farmhouse on Mountain Street in Camden in 1962, Billie created a warm and cozy home for her kids and their friends.

She was later a home health aide, an EMT, assisted the podiatrist Dr. Brown in Rockland, and worked at the Camden and Pen Bay hospitals.

She kept the family busy with many activities at the Chestnut Street Baptist Church, hosted visiting high school band members and foreign exchange students, and enjoyed yearly long road trips with her family to places like Yellowstone and Florida, always camping.

After the kids were grown, she and Neil enjoyed canoeing with their friends and traveling.

In 2010 they made the move from Maine to California.

Neil predeceased her by three years.  

Billie is survived by daughters Julie (Brian) Berge and Lynn (Gary) Griffin of Antelope, California; Jeff (Annette) of Jackman; grandchildren Audra Gray of Portland, Oregon, Hilary and Hannah Campbell of North Carolina, Tim and Emma Griffin and Denver Berge, all of Antelope; and Max Bradford.  

She also leaves one great-grandson, Solomon Dwyer-Gray, of Portland, Oregon, and many members of the Gibbs family.

The family would like to thank for loving staff of Atria El Camino Gardens for their wonderful care, along with Interim Hospice.  

No services are planned.