Gibson, Preston, 1879-1937

BIOGHIST REQUIRED Preston Gibson (1880-1937) was a prominent society figure and a playwright. The son of Randall L. Gibson, U.S. Senator and Representative of Louisiana, Gibson was extremely wealthy. Like his father, he attended Yale University, where he was a star athlete. During World War I, he was one of the first Americans to volunteer with the French army. From 1916 to 1918 he fought with the French Ambulance Corps and the American Ambulance Corps, and received the Croix to Guerre for bravery. Upon returning to the United States he enlisted in the Marines and broke records as a recruiting sergeant.

BIOGHIST REQUIRED Gibson was married and divorced four times: first to Minna Field (niece of Marshall Field and stepdaughter of Thomas Nelson Page), then to Grace McMillan Jarvis (granddaughter of U.S. Senator James McMillan), Beatrice Benjamin Pratt (daughter of the Boston publisher William Everts Benjamin and granddaughter of Henry H. Rogers of the Standard Oil Company), and finally to Evelyn Harris Spaulding. His multiple marriages caused a certain amount of scandal. He had three sons--Henry Field Gibson, James McMillan Gibson, and Henry Spaulding Gibson--and a daughter, Marie Preston Gibson. Gibson died at the age of 57 from heart disease.

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