Thelma Gibson, a South Florida trailblazer in health care, education and community leadership, has died at 99.

Gibson passed away Wednesday at her home, surrounded by family and a priest, according to her niece, Misty Brown. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Born in 1926 in Coconut Grove, Gibson grew up with a strong emphasis on education. She said her mother encouraged her and her siblings to pursue schooling so they would not have to work low-paying domestic jobs.

After graduating from nursing school in 1947, Gibson was hired at Jackson Memorial Hospital. But when she arrived, she said she was told she could not work in the operating room because of segregation and was instead directed to gain experience on the hospital’s “colored floors.”

Undeterred, Gibson built a nursing career that spanned more than three decades, saying she cherished the time she spent caring for others.

Beyond her medical work, Gibson served on numerous boards and committees and became a key community leader. She founded Miami-Dade County’s first Women’s Chamber of Commerce and, following the race riots that devastated Liberty City in the early 1980s, she and her husband launched Black Investors of Dade County to help rebuild the community.

Family members said Gibson considered her service to her community and her church, Christ Episcopal, among her greatest accomplishments.

Gibson often described herself simply as a proud American committed to helping others — a legacy her family says will endure for generations.

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