Dec. 12, 1934 – June 17, 2016

RIDGELAND — A memorial service for Bonnie Geraldine “Gerry” Gibson Hill Cleveland, 81, of Jackson, who died Friday, June 17, 2016, lovingly supported by her two sons, Jack and Charles Hill, will be at 3 p.m. Saturday at Parkway Funeral Home Chapel in Ridgeland. 

Visitation will be from 2 p.m. until service time Saturday at the funeral home.

Gerry or GiGi, as she preferred to be known later in life, was born Dec. 12, 1934, in Monticello, the daughter of Charles E. Gibson Sr. and Bonnie Guess Gibson.

Immediately following graduation from Mississippi Southern College (now University of Southern Mississippi) in Hattiesburg, Gerry married Jack D. Hill on national television in August of 1957. Always a trend setter, Gerry’s marriage to Jack on NBC’s “The Bride and Groom Show” preceded today’s reality television concept by a number of decades. Following her marriage, Gerry settled with her husband, Jack, in their adopted hometown of Hattiesburg where she taught school, obtained a master’s degree in education and raised her two sons.

Gerry moved with her family to Natchez in 1973 when her husband, Jack, became the founding president of First Natchez Bank. Following Jack’s untimely death in 1976, Gerry entered a period of mourning which was unrelieved until she met and fell in love with her second husband, E.V. “Buddy” Cleveland of Jackson. Widowed a second time in 2007, Gerry lived the remainder of her life sustained by the memories of happier times. Gerry was a loving wife to both husbands to whom she dedicated her life as a devoted spouse.

Gerry loved to travel, entertain and had a great eye for decoration and design.

Mrs. Cleveland was preceded in death by her parents; four siblings, Kendel Gibson Gordon, Capt. Charles E. Gibson Jr., Elizabeth “Dit” Gibson Foley and Bill Gibson; and her husbands, Jack D. Hill and E.V. “Buddy” Cleveland.

Survivors include two sons, Jack Hill and wife, Melissa, and their four children, Kate, Anna, Bonnie and Allison; and Charles Hill and wife, Natalie, and their two children, Alexandra “Alex” and Jack.

She leaves behind a legacy of love for her family who ask her forgiveness for revealing her age.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers that a donation be made in her name to the Alzheimer’s Association at alz.org.