Frank Gibson

Making Beaufort a Better Place to Live, Work, and Play

story by JEANNE REYNOLDS                             photos by PAUL NURNBERG

Who is the real Frank Gibson: an entrepreneur, a banker, a realtor, a builder, a civic leader, a National Guardsman, a game fish charter captain, or a college football official?

The answer is “yes.”

The real Frank Gibson has spent most of a lifetime in the Lowcountry compiling a resume nearly as long as his 28-foot fishing boat — and a legacy likely to live for generations to come.

Frank was born in Greenville, South Carolina, but moved with his family to his mother’s hometown of Allendale at age 5. After graduating from Allendale-Fairfax High School, he hoped to attend the University of South Carolina, but his father steered him toward The Citadel.

“I planned to transfer, but I found out Charleston wasn’t a bad place to be,” he says with a smile.

With a degree in business administration in hand, he embarked on his first two professional endeavors: a 20-year career with the U.S. Army National Guard and a management training program with Bankers Trust of South Carolina in Columbia. He worked as a loan officer and branch manager for Bankers Trust before taking a similar position at South Carolina Federal Savings and Loan. A year later, when that company asked him to relocate to Beaufort, he was eager to return to the Lowcountry.

“I didn’t ask how much and why, I just said ‘when,’” Frank says.

He married soon after and stepped into an instant family when he adopted his wife’s then 4-year-old son. Despite the challenges of navigating a new job, new town, and new family, within two years, Frank left the bank to start his own business, Lowcountry Insurance Services. The company eventually expanded to five locations and grew to become one of the area’s largest independent insurance agencies before he sold the business in 2013. He says the opportunity to travel around the world was one of the best perks of his insurance career, listing a river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam and trips to Australia, New Zealand, and Africa among his favorites.

Never one to stand still, Frank also launched Gibson Builders & Associates in 1995, Gibson Realty in 1997, Fishing Charters of Beaufort in 1997, and Lowcountry Long Term Care Planning in 2013 — all businesses he continues to own and operate.

MAKE IT OFFICIAL
Another side gig Frank took on almost by chance started when a friend invited him to a high school football officiating meeting. Frank had played football in high school and was single and in his early twenties, so it seemed like a fun way to spend time. He quickly learned it was a job you do for the love of the game, not the money.

“I began with junior varsity and Pop Warner League, and we were paid $7 per game,” he remembers. “We went to places you couldn’t even find on a map. There might be a pitcher’s mound in the middle of the field.”

From there, he advanced to college scrimmages at The Citadel, the University of South Carolina, and Georgia Southern University, racking up 32 years on the gridiron. Despite the downside of being gone nearly every weekend from August to January, Frank says he loved both the excitement of the games and the camaraderie with other officials.

“We were like a family,” he says. “Your life depended on the other officials because you can only see about a third of the field at one time. Half the time I didn’t know where the ball was.”

NATIONAL GUARD AND ORDER OF THE PALMETTO
Meanwhile, Frank continued his commitment to the Army National Guard. After training at Fort Jackson in Columbia, he served as an Ordnance Maintenance Officer, including deployments that took him to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Stewart in Georgia, Fort Carson in Colorado, and overseas to Germany. He was later assigned to staff service with the S.C. Adjutant General before retiring from the Guard in 1990 as a Lieutenant Colonel.

The connections he made in the service were invaluable a few years later when Frank happened to observe a large shipment of old Army tanks heading to the coast in Alabama.
“I knew immediately what they were going to do with those tanks,” he says. “They deposit them in deep water offshore to form artificial reefs that attract small, and then bigger fish to benefit the environment.”

Frank thought South Carolina could do the same thing. He contacted some of his former Guard colleagues and the S.C. Department of Natural Resources to organize the reuse and deployment of 54 tanks off the coast near Beaufort to create an artificial reef here. That effort was then duplicated to create recycled military material reefs off the coast of Charleston, North Myrtle Beach, and Garden City, South Carolina.

An unexpected personal benefit of this work arrived in the form of a prestigious statewide award in 1998: the Order of the Palmetto, the highest civilian honor awarded by the governor of South Carolina to recognize lifetime achievement and service. That put Frank in some elite company, joining the likes of novelist Pat Conroy, rock band Hootie and the Blowfish, and football coach Lou Holtz.

CAN’T SAY NO
Despite his success in many fields, “I have a personal problem,” Frank confesses. “I have trouble saying no to groups needing help.”

And there have been many, from chambers of commerce to educational groups to churches. He says the effort nearest to his heart is Leadership Beaufort, a program he started 40 years ago with Brantley Harvey and Jim Cato while serving as president of the Chamber of Commerce.

“It became one of the most successful programs we’ve ever done,” Frank says. “You meet people and learn how to get involved with a community. You expand your knowledge and go after it and get involved.”

Frank says he also takes special pride in helping found the popular Wardle Family YMCA in Port Royal. The Beaufort Rotary Club is his longest-standing civic involvement, going on 50 years with perfect attendance for the last 32.

STAYING AFLOAT
Frank continues to enjoy time on and near the water, although he’s downsized from a 48-foot boat to a pair of smaller boats — one 28 feet, the other 17 feet — all carrying the same name, “My Time Out” (I, II, and III). He also holds a 100-ton captain’s license.

“That III boat wore me out,” he says. “I had to become a builder to feed my fishing habit.”

He’s still active in the boating community, leading the Beaufort Sport Fishing Club for 27 years and now serving as commander of the Beaufort Sail and Power Squadron. He also enjoys spending time at a home he restored on the banks of the May River in Bluffton, near the place where he spent summers with his grandmother growing up.

As for what’s next, Frank has a simple, one-word answer:
“Nothing!”