Sherlock Hibbs (1904 – 2002) was a humble man who never outgrew his roots in northwest Missouri and always respected the life and dignity of everyone around him. He was born in Cameron, Missouri in 1904, the son of William E. Hibbs, a dry goods merchant who successfully operated a number of retail businesses. Mr. Hibbs had one sibling, his younger sister Wilma Ruth (Hibbs) Sikkenga.
Mr. Hibbs attended the University of Missouri at Columbia and was president of his social and business fraternities. He was excited intellectually by economics courses. After graduation, instead of returning to Cameron, he chose to pursue a Wall Street career. He obtained an interview with Morgan Guaranty Trust Company and traveled to the interview in a freight train caboose. He won the position with Morgan, and started work in Manhattan, living at the YMCA, weathering the Great Depression and gradually on his own merits, rising in the financial world.
On December 8, 1941 he enlisted in the military. He was commissioned a full lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and assigned as intelligence staff to the USS Ranger aircraft carrier. The ship’s captain, Captain C. Durgin was promoted to Admiral and selected Mr. Hibbs for his permanent staff. Mr. Hibbs, as a shipboard officer under Admiral Durgin, participated in 1944 landings in Southern France, and later the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. During these landings, Mr. Hibbs was the naval liaison with Marines on the ground to order Naval Air strikes. He received two Bronze Star medals, several campaign medals and other decorations.
Mr. Hibbs left active service late in 1945 as a Commander. Thereafter, he remained in the Naval Reserve and certain defense strategic advisory groups. Ultimately he retired from the Naval Reserve as a Captain. He always remembered his Navy service as a high point in his life.
In 1946, Mr. Hibbs resumed his financial career as a General Partner in the investment banking firm Kidder, Peabody and Company, leading the New England operations in Boston. When he retired from Kidder, Peabody in 1974, he continued to operate an orange grove established by his father near Fort Lauderdale, Florida and enjoy his sailboats. After his wife of forty two years, Margret Taylor Jones Hibbs, passed away in 1997, Mr. Hibbs continued to reside in Fort Lauderdale enjoying his friends and extended family until he passed away at age ninety eight.
CHAIRHOLDER TO BE NAMED.