Janette Kingery Gibson was a fixture at the historic downtown Roanoke farmers market.
She and twin sister Janice Beheler started helping their family sell produce at the market in 1945, when they were just 6 years old. Itâs where they learned to make change, using nickels.
Gibson kept coming back to the market for decades. When their family members retired from the market, Beheler said, the twins joined a friend there, vendor Debbie Guthrie.
Janette Kingery Gibson Courtesy of Gibson family
Gibson was last at the market on Nov. 14. Later that day, family members said, she suffered a stroke. After weeks in the hospital, she died Feb. 3 at 81 years old.