Roger F. Hibbs

Hibbs, Roger F., died peacefully Sunday, April 14, 2002, at his home on Watts Bar Lake. Born in St. Louis, he spend his childhood in Charleston, Illinois. Mr. Hibbs received his Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry from Eastern Illinois University, where he was honored as Distinguished Alumnus in 1982. After graduation, he joined Tennessee Eastman Corporation in Rochester, NY. He transferred to the Oak Ridge Operations in 1943, where he worked as part of the war time effort to develop the atomic bomb under the auspices of the Manhattan Project. While with Oak Ridge's nuclear energy program, he helped develop the first production analytical laboratory in the Y-12 plant, and pioneered the use of mass spectroscopy to determine uranium isotope concentrations as a process control. When he retired in 1984, he had been President of the Nuclear Division of Union Carbide for 15 years. Mr. Hibbs was a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Nuclear Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Tau Beta Pa Association. He was a member of the Board of Governors of the Tennessee Manufacturer's Association, the Maryville College Advisory Council, the Board of Engineering Advisors for the College of Engineering at Tennessee Technological University, and the Committee of Visitors of the School of Engineering at Vanderbilt University. He served on the Board of Directors of the Community Foundations of East Tennessee, the Knoxville Red Cross, the Tennessee Council on Economic Education, the Governor's Ambassador Program for Tennessee's Industrial Development, and the Valley Fidelity Bank. He was a member of the University of Tennessee Development Council and Chancellor's Associates, and a board member of the Oak Ridge Associated Universities. He served as Treasurer of the Board of Directors of the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville. He was on the development board, as well as Chairman of the Board of Directors for St. Mary's Medical Center in Knoxville. He was most recently instrumental in the development and business operations of the Tazewell Pike Animal Clinic. Married for 57 years, Mr. Hibbs and his wife, Mary Jane Aland Hibbs, have eight children: Roger F. Hibbs, Jr. and wife, Kathy, Kathryn Hibbs Buckingham and her husband, John, Margaret S. Hibbs, MD (deceased), David J. Hibbs and his wife, LeEllen, Caroline Hibbs Stradely and her husband, Scott, Joanne M. Hibbs, DVM, Mary Beth Hibbs Sutton and her husband, Michael, and Daniel A. Hibbs and wife, Tania. They have 12 grandchildren, Angela Buckingham Melton and her husband, Mark, Lisa and Mark Buckingham, Aaron HIbbs, Mary, Theresa, and John Hibbs, Eric and Justin Stradley, Courtney Hibbs, and Matthew and Katie Sutton. They also have one great-grandchild, Matthew Buckingham Melton. A memorial Mass will be celebrated by Fr. Michael Woods at St. Mary Catholic Church in Oak Ridge at 2 p.m. on Friday. The family will receive friends at the church after the service. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to St. Mary's School (Oak Ridge) Building or Scholarship Funds, or St. Mary's Medical Center (Knoxville) Residential Hospice. Kyker Funeral Home, Kingston, in charge of arrangements.

Roger F. Hibbs

January 28, 1921 - April 14, 2002