Pre-Civil Rights Movement Social Activist Succumbs At 105

The Los Angeles Times:

"The rev. ray gibbons, a minister who helped Protestant churches in the United States address major social and political issues as director of the Council for Christian Social Action from 1944 to 1968, died of natural causes March 18 at Pilgrim Place retirement home in Claremont, his son David said last week. He was 105. The council was an agency of the Congregational Christian Churches of America and, starting in 1957, the United Church of Christ.

'Soon after taking over as director, Gibbons called on the denomination's 4,000 clergymen to address 'racial relations, labor problems, peace treaties, management [and] economic questions,' according to a 1944 Time magazine article. Gibbons worked out of the council's New York offices but traveled extensively to lead congregations as they put their Christian faith into practice.

"During World War II, he visited internment camps where Japanese Americans were detained, offering encouragement and advocating their release. After the war, he helped churches as they worked to re-integrate those citizens back into their communities. He spoke out in Appalachia and other depressed areas while helping to develop better housing for low- and middle-income families."