Author Event – All Eternity Lies Before Me: A Military Family's Story of Enduring Love and Resilience

Join us for a moving and heartfelt author event with Loreen Gibbons, as she shares her deeply personal book, All Eternity Lies Before Me. Written in the wake of her husband’s death while serving in the U.S. military, Gibbons' work is both a tribute and a testament—a poetic reflection on grief, love, healing, and the enduring strength of the military spouse community.

Come hear Loreen read from her work, discuss the journey behind the book, and share in a conversation about hope, remembrance, and finding meaning after loss. A Q&A and book signing will follow the talk.

About Loreen Gibbons

Loreen Gibbons is a former Navy wife, remarried Navy widow, and retired elementary school teacher. Her debut memoir began as letters to her grandson Spencer, intended to introduce him to the grandfather he never met. It is a powerful narrative of survival, resilience, and the enduring strength of love.

About All Eternity Lies Before Me

Alfa Foxtrot 586, a P-3 Orion turboprop, was conducting a sensitive Cold War mission off the Kamchatka Peninsula on October 26, 1978, when a propeller malfunction turned into four engine fires and the pilot—Loreen Grigsby’s husband, Jerry—was forced to ditch into remote, mountainous seas churned by a frigid North Pacific gale. The aircraft sank within ninety seconds, taking one of the three rafts with it—which left thirteen men to huddle together in the remaining two rafts, the smaller of which soon began to leak.

Told from Loreen’s perspective as a Navy wife at home as well as through the eyes of the men who survived the disaster, All Eternity Lies Before Me weaves a gripping tale of struggle, uncertainty, grief, and heroism. It shares Loreen’s terror as she receives notifications about her husband’s crew’s desperate battle against wind, seas, and biting cold. It details the ad hoc search and rescue mission, a valiant effort to rescue the men before time runs out. And, tragically, it tells how a young Navy wife becomes a widow and single mom.

But Jerry’s death is not the end of Loreen’s story—and in the years following his loss, she discovers resilience, strength, and a new future. As she begins her journey toward a brighter future, she’s inspired by the camaraderie and brotherhood forged between the survivors and their rescuers—and ultimately, the long-term lessons learned by all involved become part of the lasting legacy of this event.