By BRAD GASKINS / Staff Writer

WILSONVILLE – A member of Wilsonville Baptist Church was killed last weekend on his way home from a mission trip to South Dakota.

Larry Gibson, 50, died from injuries he suffered in a motorcycle crash Aug. 12 in Wyoming. Gibson and his wife, Anita, were on their way home from a motorcycle rally in Sturgis, S.D.

Anita Gibson suffered minor injuries in the crash, according to Wilsonville Baptist Church Pastor Steve Thomas, who lives next door to the Gibsons.

Larry Gibson was a member of Faith Riders, a national Christian ministry group with several members at Wilsonville Baptist, Thomas said.

“It was something that he had done before and loved to do,” Thomas said of Gibson’s trip to Sturgis. “He and his wife went up there to share the love of Jesus Christ.”

Gibson was a father of five.

In a video posted on youtube, Anita Gibson, lying in a Wyoming hospital bed, talked about the crash that killed her husband.

“We went off the road, and he passed away,” Anita Gibson said in the video. “The reason I’m making this video is to tell you how short life is, and how important it is to get your life right with the Lord.

“My husband loved Jesus. The reason why we were in Sturgis was on a Faith Riders rally to witness the love of Christ to the lost.”

The Gibsons left for Sturgis on Aug. 4 and arrived Aug. 8, Thomas said.

Thomas said Larry Gibson was “a good friend.”

“He loved to life live. He wanted everybody happy,” Thomas said. “He wanted everybody smiling. If they weren’t, before he got done with you, you would be. He loved living life to the fullest.

“When we were playing golf, he loved it. When we were doing church work, he loved it. The main thing he wanted to do was tell people about Jesus. You’d find him telling about Jesus in the store, on the street or wherever he was. He loved to tell the story of what Jesus had done for him.”