Connie Gibson with the U.S. Ambassador.

Did you miss the beginning of Connie’s story? Read part one here and part two here.

In December 2010, two years after her book was published, Connie discovered a lump in her breast. The next month, while in the U.S. for winter break, she was diagnosed with stage two cancer. By the summer vacation of 2012, it had progressed to stage four.

Connie knew God wasn’t finished with her yet, and she still had more to do in the East. Despite being extremely ill, she labored on for the good of her students. Meanwhile, God did his part. When she returned to the States for a check-up in December 2012, she discovered she was in remission.

In December 2014, Connie celebrated her 68th birthday in Nanchang. She then continued teaching through the spring 2015 semester before finally moving back to the West Coast. Though she hated leaving her adopted sons and daughters in Asia, she loved being with her American family, including her two sons and seven grandchildren.

Connie with three of her grandchildren

“Even with the cancer, my dear mother has more energy than most people that I know,” her son Aaron said. “She is, and always has been, an unstoppable force in the field of encouragement for others.” (Tweet that!)

On May 11, five months after Connie celebrated her 70th birthday, the Lord took her home. Though we miss her dearly, she’s finally at rest, free from pain, and with her heavenly Husband. I imagine her laughter is lighting up Heaven, and I look forward to the day she’ll embrace me once more.

Her Enduring Legacy

Connie’s students have won hundreds of contests and went on to earn PhDs, land lucrative jobs, and start successful companies. But the effect she’s had on our personal and spiritual lives is even more profound.

Eight years after Connie started praying for my future husband, she spoke at our wedding rehearsal. The love she shared continues to inspire me to love people to their full potential. (Tweet that!)

That love has also inspired TV, radio, and magazine interviews as well as a short story set in 2035.

Connie Mom talking with a radio host.

“I think everyone made exceptions out of Connie, because she made exceptions out of everyone else,” author Moira Laidlaw writes. “She thought everyone was exceptional.”

Want to help Connie Gibson continue to inspire the world to love people to their full potential? Share this blog series on social media!

Did you miss part one? Read the beginning of the story of how Connie Mom became China’s English coach here. 

Coaching Students to National Victory

After speaking in Hunan province, Connie Mom signed this junior high school student’s book, “Wherever you are, be there.”

Jiangxi Normal University assigned Connie to teach English and writing classes. On her own, she also started a translation club, a storytelling troupe, and speech and public speaking classes. In her “spare time,” she founded an English library and held seminars for students and educators all over the country.

Two years after Connie arrived in Asia, one of her students did what no one from poor Jiangxi had done before. Li Jiayu won second place in a nationally-televised English public-speaking competition.

Two years later, Connie’s student Ai Lisha won first place in the same competition. By then, it had become the most prestigious English-speaking contest in China.

Connie with Li Jiayu (far left) and three other students.

Connie’s motivation was to show people God’s love, not to gain recognition. But the recognition came anyway. Teachers from top universities who had met Connie at contests started attending her seminars.

Lina Shi said, “Connie has become a legend in the English public speaking cause in China. [Tweet that!]Her passion and dedication have enabled students to rise from obscurity to excellence.”

From the President to the Proletariat

In 2004, at a State banquet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Connie was given a solid gold medallion. She had won the National Friendship Award. The next day, Premier Wen Jiabao congratulated her at a special reception. That evening, she attended a State dinner with President Hu Jintao.

In 2011, China’s largest university press created an award just for Connie. In 2014, the China Society for Research on International Professional Personnel Exchange and Development named her the Favorite Foreign Teacher of Chinese Students.

Connie Mom, China’s English Coach

But no matter how famous Connie grew, she continued to make time for ordinary people. She even cleaned and painted her favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant with her speech class and some visiting Americans. 

“She would hug every one,” her student Penny said. “Flash her huge grin to every passerby, take photos with drivers, gatekeepers and remember to send them a photo afterwards.”

The Secret to Her Success

Connie with her friend, a vegetable seller.

In 2006, the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press asked Connie to write a book. They wanted to know how she coaches and why her students become so successful. Two years later, they published A Guidebook to English Public Speaking Training.

But what is the secret to her success?

Connie said, “Mostly I try to see the best they can be, believe in them and all their possibilities. [Tweet that!] Actually, it all boils down to love. I love them.”

Connie Mom reading her Bible

Jenny Owens, an American who also taught in Jiangxi Province, saw this love in action. “Many have stared with bug eyes and mouth open because they have never experienced such love,” she said. “And those who get a second and third taste usually come back for more. People are seeing Jesus. She has been his hands to so many.”

“There is no way I could ever come up with this kind of love myself,” Connie is quick to admit. “God has given me this love for them and for China. Left to my own ability, my passion and love would fall short, dwindle and die. Only God’s continual love and prompting could keep me coming back for 15 years.”

Read the conclusion of Connie Mom’s story here.

Connie Mom Gibson at Jiangxi Normal University

I was in my second year serving in the East, starving for a taste of home, when Connie Gibson moved to Nanchang. She brought me warm hugs, contagious laughter, and homemade chicken noodle soup. But Connie wasn’t like many fresh-out-of-college English Language Institute recruits. 

When she arrived in Asia, Connie was a 53-year-old grandma who had just given up a successful career and a stunning home in California. She’d brokered mortgage loans and taught real estate finance in the States. Known as “Mom Two,” she’d opened her home every Sunday for over a decade to anyone who wanted a meal or a family. 

“There were only two rules,” Connie said, “a hug coming in and a hug going out.”

Answering the Call

In February 2000, Connie flew to Arizona to visit one of her heart-adopted sons who’s a pastor. While reading Christianity Today, he noticed an advertisement that ended with “Leave a Legacy–China!” Connie had long forgotten her childhood dream to go to the Orient, but by the time she finished reading the ad, God had called her there. 

She immediately phoned the English Language Institute and asked them to send her an application. She wanted to become one of the teachers they send to Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Connie Gibson with part of her ELIC team: Julie, Jason, and Jenny.

Since her sons were grown and her husband had left her years before for another woman, she was free to go. Her only request? Place her in China, but not in a hot region, because the hates the heat.

Six months later, Connie turned her business clients over to a trusted friend and moved to Nanchang. Ovenlike in the summers, her new home city was dubbed one of the mainland’s Four Furnaces. Connie accepted this with her usual good-humored wisecracks. Despite the weather, her heavenly Husband had led her to Nanchang, and Nanchang was where she would remain.

Becoming Connie Mom

But the weather wasn’t the only surprise awaiting Connie. Chinese nationals rarely hug, even close family members, but Connie sees everyone as a son or a daughter to embrace with God’s love. She soon became known as “Connie Mom” to her students, colleagues, and even the school administrators.

Her student Hope said, “From her, I learned what it is to give and how warm a hug could be.” (Tweet that!)

Those of us from the States who were teaching and studying in Jiangxi also melted into those hugs. No matter what had happened that day or week, we knew we’d be met at Connie Mom’s door with a bright smile and a big embrace.

Me and Jason Hamilton (an ELIC teacher) at Connie’s house one Sunday.

Though we often ate out in small restaurants, sweat moistening our arms and faces, Sundays were spent at Connie Mom’s. In her air-conditioned apartment, we foreigners prayed, worshipped, and shared an American meal together. Soup was usually on the menu.

Most of us were young adults and often spoke of our dreams for the future. What we wanted to become. Where we wanted to go. Who we wanted to marry.

Connie counseled and encouraged us, her delight in us gleaming in her eyes. But God hadn’t led her east just to impact some Westerners. Connie would soon change the face of English-learning in the People’s Republic of China. (Tweet that!) 

Continue reading the story of Connie Mom Gibson here!