The third announced inductee into the Distinguished Class of Alumni for Trenton Junior College and North Central Missouri College is a couple who have impacted hundreds of lives in their nearly 90 years.
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Together they have been educators, farmers, community and church leaders, and role models. Parents to three daughters, grandparents to seven grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild, Bob and Ann Mayo Sibbit have lots of stories to tell of their lives.
Bob, a native of Grundy County and Ann, born in Mendon, met as classmates at Trenton High School when Ann’s family moved to Trenton in 1937. Bob was president of the FFA Chapter and was a star player on the football team earning all conference during his senior year. He grew up on a farm, was a direct descendant of H.R. Thompson – one of Grundy County’s earliest settlers and learned at an early age the value of hard work. Ann was a banker’s daughter who excelled in academics and activities serving as the student council president and membership in GAA, the Pep Club and the Home Economics Club. She was the first Trenton girl to attend Missouri Girls State. Both Ann and Bob graduated from THS in 1941.
Bob and Ann have wonderful memories of elementary school. One of Bob’s best memories is riding the very first school bus into Trenton, a homemade vehicle constructed by Mr. Webster at a time when you either found a room in Trenton for lodging during the week to rent or high school wasn’t an option. The old Ford truck had the bed removed along with the cab and a large box was built on the back with seats on each side.
Ann, on the other hand, attended a school in Mendon, where the grade school and high school were in the same building. The building was very modern for those times with running water, indoor toilets and had a basketball court/assembly hall on the first floor.
After high school graduation, Ann attended Trenton Junior College, graduating in 1943 with a teaching certificate. Bob studied at the University of Missouri-Columbia for three semesters, then returned to Trenton amidst wartime and, while waiting for a farm furlough, attended one semester at TJC, graduating in 1943.
Their educational plans didn’t stop there. Bob returned to the university finishing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in animal husbandry in 1965. Ann began her first teaching job just a week after their marriage at the one-room Baker School, north of Trenton. Ann says she was inspired to become a teacher because both her mother and grandmother were teachers.
She took time off from teaching to raise their three daughters and when the youngest started first grade, Ann returned to teaching. While teaching, Ann attended Northeast Missouri State Teachers College in Kirksville in the summer completing her bachelor’s degree in 1961. She says it took her 20 years to complete her degree. When Bob returned to the university, Ann resumed teaching in the New Haven district.
The family moved back to Grundy County in 1965. From here, Ann taught at Princeton and the Trenton R-9 School District, teaching at Brainerd and Rissler. She again attended summer school and received her master’s in education in 1970 – one of the first to be awarded by the University of Missouri. As a college student at MU, Ann helped babysit her grandson while her daughter was also a college coed herself.
Bob worked for the University research farm west of Spickard as the livestock specialist from 1965 though 1976. From there he was employed by the University of Missouri Extension Service in Mercer County, responsible for Harrison, Mercer and Putnam counties in north Missouri. He retired in 1988.
As the parents of three daughters, Roberta Chambers is an attorney in Corydon, IA; Dr. Donna Hathaway is the dean of nursing at the University of Tennessee in Memphis; and Janet Peterie is a graduate of the NCMC nursing program and is employed by Dialysis Clinics, Inc. of Kirksville.
The senior Sibbits have been horse lovers forever and the daughters followed suit. Both Bob and Ann were members of the Midwest Cutters Association, where Ann served as the secretary for over 20 year. Bob has been a lifelong member of the National Cutting Horse Association and the American Quarter Horse Association and after one visits the Sibbit home in Princeton, you will find walls of honors bestowed upon Bob for his involvement in numerous equestrian shows and organizations.
Both are active members in the Princeton Baptist Church. Ann has served as the financial and recording secretary as well as church librarian for over 25 years while Bob has served as a church deacon at the Princeton and Salem Baptist churches for over 40 years. Ann has been active in DAR, the Mercer County Retired Teachers and the Allied Arts and Book Club while Bob has held memberships in the Princeton Rotary Club and various agricultural organizations.
The Sibbits join Dr. Jerry Hammond McClelland and W.W. Pete Peery as earlier announced honoress to be inducted on Oct. 9 at the college’s annual gala.