Hoot has gone home

by Murphy , Wednesday, April 29, 2026, 23:13 (8 hours, 31 minutes ago) @ Dave B

Hoot is a man I will never forget. This is going to be the hardest post I've made here, but must be told to fully understand the impact Hoot made on me.

It happened around 2006 in Clarksville. To make a long story short, we were on the firing line and I had a ka-boom, it took a bit to figure out what happened, but I was totally at fault. Hoot was standing to my right and part of the cylinder wound up in his right forearm. He had to be rushed to the hospital, and then down to the next town to a larger facility for surgery the next day. He and Beth had to extend their stay a week before being cleared to travel. A number of us were waiting at the E.R. waiting for any updates from Beth. When they brought him out to transfer him, as I walked over to the wheel chair he stopped them. I was looking for words when Hoot reached out with his left arm for me, wrapped it around my neck and said "Murphy, I love you". I replied in kind and they headed off with him. A number of us made the trip also (one stayed the entire night). I kept up with Hoot over the next several months seeing how he was coming along and all had gone well. Nothing but kindness, compassion, and understanding from both he and Miss Beth.

This was the Michael "Hoot" Gibson I knew and came to love like a brother.

Murphy