The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 281 A portrait of Omer D. appears in this publication. OMER D. GIBSON. Omer D. Gibson, president of the Gibson Brothers Corporation and the Yakima Meat Company, was born in Waterloo, Oregon, January 18, 1877, but has spent much of his life in Washington. He is a son of James D. and Mary Gibson, who settled in Oregon in pioneer times. The father was a farmer and also engaged in the live crock business. In 1879 he removed from Waterloo to Wasco county, Oregon, where he engaged in the stock business for many years, and he is now living retired at Pleasant Valley, California. Omer D. Gibson, of this review, acquired a public school education in Oregon and Walla Walla, Washington, and afterward had the benefit of instruction in a business college at Portland, Oregon. He next entered the live stock business in connection with his father and brother and later devoted his attention to horse raising at Snake River in Washington. In 1896 he took up the business of cattle buying for the Walla Walla Meat Company and afterward spent three years with the firm of Bruhn & Henry, whose headquarters were at Snohomish. On leaving that firm he and his brother, E. S., organized the Walla Walla Meat & Cold Storage Company with a capital stock of twenty thousand dollars, and built a fine plant which they conducted for three years, increasing the capital stock to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Afterward Mr. Gibson went to Seattle, where he built a large packing house in connection with the Yakima Sheep Company, but eventually sold his interest in that corporation. He subsequently came to Yakima and entered into active relations with the Yakima Meat Company, which was incorporated in 1909. It had been established by the firm of Rand & Sigle about 1906 and in 1911 the business was purchased by the Gibson brothers and Charles Bruhn. The plant then consisted of a small slaughter house. They began to do packing in 1911 and in 1912 commenced packing on an extensive scale. The plant has been increased until today it covers forty acres, with a yard capacity for several hundred head of stock. They feed and fatten five hundred or more head of cattle each winter and they buy extensively throughout the valley. They also have an interest in thirteen thousand acres of grazing land, and the Gibson Corporation owns eighteen thousand acres. They kill sheep, hogs and cattle and their product is sold from Pasco to the Cascade mountains. They employ about sixty people, having the largest packing house in the Yakima valley. The Gibson brothers incorporated their interests under the name of Gibson Brothers in 1914 in order to attend to the general live stock business and their landed interests. As the years have passed their business has steadily grown until it has reached the position of leadership in their line. From early boyhood Omer D. Gibson has been closely associated with live stock interests, each year bringing him broader experiences and wider opportunities which he has eagerly utilized for the benefit of his own fortunes and for the advancement of community welfare. He is now the president and manager of the Yakima Meat Company and of Gibson Brothers, Incorporated, and ranks with the foremost business men of his section of the state. On the 10th of September, 1901, Mr. Gibson was married to Miss Lillian Gholson, of Walla Walla, Washington. Mrs. Gibson, who had many friends in Yakima, passed away on December 27, 1918, her death causing deep sorrow to all who knew her. Mr. Gibson is well known in lodge circles, belonging to Trinity Lodge No. 121, I. O. O. F., and to the Elks Lodge No. 318, of Yakima. He also belongs to the Yakima Commercial Club and to the Yakima Valley Business Men's Association and that he is appreciative of the social amenities of life is indicated in his connection with the Yakima Country Club. In politics he is a democrat but without desire or ambition for office. During 1905 Mr. Gibson was engaged in breaking wild horses for the firm of Stoffer & Switzler and in the intervening period of thirteen years he has steadily advanced until he stands in the foremost rank among the packers and the live stock then of the northwest. He has utilized every opportunity which has come his way and difficulties and obstacles have been regarded as an impetus for renewed effort on his part. He has studied every phase of the business in which he has engaged, has given due attention to every detail and at the same time has most wisely directed the principal features of his business, his life record showing what can be accomplished through determined energy intelligently directed. ******************************** Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.