Editor's note: The Gick family sent us this note to tell us about their wonderful neighbor.

I wanted to publicly thank a wonderful neighbor, Leona Gibson, for all the things she's done for me and my family over the nearly 33 years we have known her.

Mrs. Gibson is 89 years old, still puts in a garden every year (sharing seedlings with us neighbors she has started from seed and then mature vegetables from her garden, which she recently spaded for next year), mows her own yard (sometimes twice a week), rakes leaves, and snowblows her driveway in the wintertime.

She walks a mile and a half every day, can fix about anything that goes wrong in her house (and makes her own improvements, from re-laying a brick sidewalk to rearranging her rock garden), and quite honestly puts the rest of us to shame as she can literally work circles around us younger folks.

She is the most energetic senior I have ever known, usually getting only four or five hours of sleep at night and starting her day around 4:30 or 5 a.m. She has taken my clothes down on numerous occasions (even when it isn't going to rain), and is always sharing her delicious homemade soups, pies and casseroles (it's hard cooking for just one, she always tells me since losing her husband, Lewis Gibson, 2 1/2 years ago after nearly 67 years of marriage).

She visits ill neighbors in the hospital, bakes cookies for newcomers to the block, shares her famous buckeyes with the postman and us at Christmastime, and has been a special friend to an acquaintance who recently entered a nursing facility, taking her delicious meals and desserts on occasion.

Mrs. Gibson has fed our cats when we've gone on vacation for more than a few days, keeps an eye on things when we are away, has helped me hang wallpaper, gives us good advice when we need to know how to do something (e.g., pruning trees, planting flower bulbs) and has been a true blessing in our lives.

And her generosity extends to the “feathered” friends in the area, as she has numerous feeders in her yard for the finches, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, cardinals, etc. Believe me, they know where “good eatin'” is, as she has quite an aviary right in her own backyard.

If there were an award for “Best Neighbor Ever,” Mrs. Gibson would surely win that category.

We just want to say, “Thank you, Mrs. Gibson,” for being the most kind, generous and wonderful neighbor anyone could ever have. We truly cherish your friendship and loving heart. May God bless you this Thanksgiving and for many more years to come.