Carolyn M. (McMahon) Gibbs

Carolyn Margaret Gibbs, 72, of Portola Valley, CA, passed away peacefully in her home with her loving family by her side on Sunday, November 29, 2020. She was an incredible fighter who did not let her cancer diagnosis define her or stop her daily life. To the end she continued to counsel and support others also battling addiction in their lives.

Funeral Mass will be 10:30 am, Wednesday, December 9, 2020 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Bellevue. Family will greet friends 9:30 am until Mass time also on Wednesday, December 9, 2020 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.  Burial will be in St. Joseph’s Catholic Cemetery in Bellevue.

Funeral Mass will be live streamed on the St. Joseph Bellevue - Sts. Peter & Paul Springbrook Facebook page, on their You Tube Channel and on Bellevue Cable TV Channel 37.

Carolyn was born in Winchester, Massachusetts, to parents Mary and Edward McMahon on Nov 12, 1948. She attended St. Charles Borromeo high school in Woburn, MA and went on to earn a BA from Emmanuel College in Boston and the MHSA degree from the University of Michigan, School of Public Health. After graduate school, she worked in the health care management arena, starting and directing a community HMO in East Hartford CT in 1981. In 1985 she was the first non-MD hired by AETNA Insurance Co. to develop their emerging alternative health care management insurance programs, leading development of AETNA PPOs throughout southeastern US. In 1992, she moved with her husband to California, where she worked for Stanford University and later for Blue Shield of California in the alternative health care management program areas, until her retirement in 1998.  She then became a certified counselor for those suffering from addiction and spent many years supporting and helping others in this area.

Carolyn is survived by her loving husband of 49 years, Lawrence Gibbs, of Portola Valley; her son Christian Gibbs, his wife Jessica Gibbs and grandchildren Ellyson, Greyson and Memphis Gibbs, of Wilmington, NC; her daughter Felice Ajlouny, her husband Eric Ajlouny and grandchild Nathaniel Ajlouny of Dublin, CA; and, three brothers, Thomas McMahon of Morris, CT, Timothy McMahon of Woburn, MA, and Mark McMahon of Manchester, NH.  She is preceded in death by her mother, Mary (Rooney) McMahon and her father, Edward McMahon. 

Carolyn was a most generous, supportive, spiritual and caring person. She will be missed by her family and all who knew her, especially the many individuals with whom she shared her many challenges and victories in life.  Although she has passed from this world, she lives on in the hearts of the many people she has touched in this life.

The family wishes to extend their gratitude to Rita Ramirez for her loving home care support, and to Mission Hospice staff for the care in her final hours.

Memorial donations may be made to Mission Hospice, 1670 South Amphlett Blvd. Suite 300, San Mateo, CA 94402 (https://www.missionhospice.org/donate/) or Bay Area Cancer Connections in Palo Alto, 2335 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, California 94306 (https://www.bayareacancer.org/give.html).  

Online condolences may be left for the family at www.hachmannfuneralhome.com