[1][2][3][4][5] Gibbons was a lieutenant in the United States Navy during World War II.
[6] Gibbons worked for the law firm of Lord, Bissell & Brook of Chicago.
He and the Kansas City Terminal Railway held the power to oversee and liquidate the railroad.
His last day as the receiver and trustee was June 1, 1984, after all of the Rock Island's locomotives, cars, tracks and trackage rights were sold, dismantled and sold, or abandoned under an Interstate Commerce Commission directed service order.
Gibbons was able to raise $500 million in the liquidation, paying off all the railroad's creditors with interest.