Divya Khan | The Chronicle
Most Mason High School (MHS) seniors have spent their entire lives in Mason, from childhood all the way up until the present. Reflecting back on their elementary years, the Class of 2027 is approaching their final months of high school. But this year, as talk of graduation begins and seniors think about their walk across the stage, they remember the Mason student who is no longer here to take her walk.
On Feb. 20, 2019, 10-year-old Sable Gibson passed away due to cardiac arrest following a diagnosis of influenza and strep throat. Sable was the youngest of six children, and was a fourth grader at Mason’s Western Row Elementary School. Over the past seven years, Sable has left an impact on not only the people around her, but the town as a whole. As a member of the class of 2027, Sable would now be in her final year of high school, and it has not gone unnoticed.
Holly Gibson is Sable’s mother. She said she has taken notice of the town’s efforts to represent Sable throughout the years, and especially this year.
“I think it is so awesome how even people who don’t know [Sable] or know the story [of her passing] are learning about her,” Gibson said. “Through the years people have been so good about remembering her, and that just means so much to us.”
Pink ribbons tied around trees lined the town for the first day of school; a water polo senior banner of Sable hangs in the natatorium to honor her and pink painted hearts can be found on several seniors’ parking spots from the Shine Like Sable foundation. Gibson said that she appreciates the acts the community has taken to represent her daughter and that she was thankful Sable was being remembered.
“Most places don’t do what they’re doing for Sable,” Gibson said. “Most communities seven years later don’t remember, and so I think Mason’s so unique in that they really pull together and remember her.”
Gibson said a Mason teacher suggested painting hearts on the senior parking spot. She said she was afraid no one would participate in the activity.
“So many [people participated],” Gibson said. “It was around 70 [seniors from Mason], and I even had two or three [seniors] from Kings, [and] two from CHCA reach out to me [asking], ‘Will you come paint [a heart] on our parking spots?’”
The Gibson family in Florida September 2026, holding a framed photo of Sable. The youngest child of six kids, Sable’s family often referred to her as “Little Sister.”
Gibson said that she knew this year would be hard for her and the rest of Sable’s family as Sable’s senior milestones passed, including activities like senior sunrise, the first day of school and homecoming. She said that she acknowledges how fast senior year is passing and that she is aware that she is unable to participate in being present for the senior year activities with her daughter.
“It is so crazy when it’s already fall break, then it’s Thanksgiving, and then it’s Christmas,” Gibson said. “After this year, everybody will scatter and start their lives, so I feel like this is kind of the big last year to remember [Sable as a community].”
Though the town is making efforts to represent Sable in her senior year, the community has done much in previous years to honor Sable and her character by helping the people of Mason who may need more help than others. Holly and Scott Gibson, Sable’s parents, created the ShineLikeSable Foundation after her passing, which has been used to fundraise for children’s hospitals, bring service dogs into those hospitals as well as Mason elementary schools and create a weekend food program in Mason.
According to the ShineLikeSable website, the ShineLikeSable Foundation has worked with Mason City Schools to create a weekend food program that makes “Shine Packs,” which are lunches given to students who may not be financially capable of accessing a lunch on weekends when school lunch is not available. Shine Packs were created in honor of Sable packing a second lunch for school in case a student came to class with no lunch.
“[Sable] has such a love for kids who did not have enough food to eat, whether it be homeless people or kids at school,” Gibson said. “We thought [Shine Packs were] a way to carry on her memory and honor her.”
Gibson said that the foundation has helped many students in Mason. She said that before the passing of her daughter and creation of the initiative, there was no weekend food program in the city.
“Our biggest pack is the first Saturday of every month,” Gibson said. “We take care of about 900 students at Mason.”
Reflecting on Sable’s impact on the community and the people she knew, MHS seniors Parker Evans and Bella Anderson said their lives have changed in the past seven years. Evans and Anderson were two of Sable’s closest friends and said they continue to honor her as they walk through their senior year. Evans said that throughout her childhood, Sable was known for being a fun and giggly person.
“I think [this year] is hard because she could have been here, she could have been doing all [of the senior activities],” Evans said. “I think [it is important]to see she is probably still watching over [us], and she is not missing out; she is still looking down, and she’s still [here].”
As they started their senior year, Evans and Anderson said they began to find more ways to honor Sable, including going to the cemetery on the anniversary of her passing and spending the day with Holly Gibson on Sable’s birthday.
“We got backpack photos and had a picture frame of Sable that we took with it,” Anderson said. “We [also] had a keychain of an angel, and it [had a pink little stone that we put] on our backpacks.”
Anderson said that she feels like the loss has continued to impact many and that the Class of 2027 is different due to it. She said Sable’s passing was hard on everybody in the community.
“Our whole grade was impacted; [all of the seniors] lost a person in their grade,” Anderson said. “I think our grade is tighter because of what we have been through.”
Anderson said that she has seen the community honoring Sable in a variety of ways throughout the years. She thinks that this remembrance has helped the friends and family around the passing in a way they could not have expected.
“It has been really fun to just see all of the things throughout the years that are still honoring her,” Anderson said. “It is really cool to see [the way people are remembering Sable], as a community.”
Gibson said that these acts to honor her daughter around town have meant a lot to her and her family. She said everything the town has done for her family has not gone unnoticed.
“[My family and I are] grateful that she is so remembered and honored,” Gibson said. “[Sable] is my favorite thing to talk about; the best gift you can give me is to bring her name up.”
Gibson said that she has one takeaway she wants people to reflect on leading up to what would have been Sable’s final year of high school.
“What you do in the day-to-day matters,” Gibson said. “Whether she was sitting next to somebody on a buddy bench that did not have someone to play with or sharing her food at lunch. Those little [acts of kindness] make a difference in people’s lives.”
