Museum volunteer Vickie Leech was designated Gibson’s Citizen of the Year.
                                 Tomeka Sinclair | The Laurinburg Exchange

Museum volunteer Vickie Leech was designated Gibson’s Citizen of the Year.

Tomeka Sinclair | The Laurinburg Exchange

GIBSON — In the few years Vickie Leech has been in Gibson, she has made an impact.

This was the thought of Gibson’s mayor and council as they bestowed on her the title of the Citizen of the Year.

“Not only does that come from the town, that comes from the whole community,” Mayor Archie Herring said.

Lorna Hudson presented the award to Leech during the January meeting of the town’s board.

“If you haven’t been in Gibson, the last few years, and haven’t seen her somewhere along the street, sitting in the museum or decorating something or watering flowers, you must have went through backwards because that where’s she’s been,” Hudson said.

Leech and her husband, Gregory Leech, who is a member of the Gibson Town Council moved to Gibson four and a half years ago from Richmond, Connecticut.

“Since she got she hit the ground running,” Hudson said.

Leech played a key role in the reopening of the Gibson Museum to the public, working diligently to catalog and clean the museum.

“We have also had two Veterans Parades and festivals that she has overseen,” Hudson said.

Leech also oversaw the organization of the town’s 125th celebration.

“Anything that’s been done, this lady has done … There had came a time when most people had stopped volunteering to do anything and she’s actually lit a fire back in me now and got me back volunteering,” Hudson said.