Marion, Tri-Town mourns the loss of a 15-year-old boy
Nolan Gibbons with "New England's Got Talent" host Joe Arsenault in 2017. Photo courtesy: Sheila Gibbons. 
The Town of Marion showed its support to the family with its signboard. Photo by: Tim Seeberger
Nolan Gibbons with "New England's Got Talent" host Joe Arsenault in 2017. Photo courtesy: Sheila Gibbons.
The Town of Marion showed its support to the family with its signboard. Photo by: Tim Seeberger
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MARION — The Tri-Town is mourning the passing of 15-year-old Nolan Gibbons, who died in his sleep on Aug. 18.
In a post on Facebook, his mother Sheila Gibbons called her son’s death, “tragic and completely unexpected.”
The rising Old Rochester Regional sophomore was already starting to make his mark as a talented singer and actor.
“We know that Nolan touched many people’s lives through his music, his humor and his buoyant spirit,” she wrote, adding, “we ask for your patience and privacy as we navigate this unimaginable loss.”
In 2017, at the age of 12, Nolan won New England’s Got Talent by digitally cloning himself into an acapella group to cover John Lennon’s “Imagine.” He had been singing with community service and music group The Showstoppers since he was 9 years old, and also sang with Acapop! KIDS, an acapella group started by several members of the famous acapella group Pentatonix.
Former Miss Massachusetts, Jillian Zucco wrote Nolan a tribute on Facebook, saying “you will never know the impact you’ve made on me, your community, and now the whole world through Acapop. I feel totally blessed to have known your beautiful smile, your incredible talent, and your kind soul. Showstoppers will never be the same. You are SO loved and have left us completely devastated.”
Acapop paid tribute to Nolan with a post on its Instagram account, writing:
“Nolan was an exceptionally talented singer, beatboxer and musician — but above all he was the kindest friend He embodied everything we aspire to be. Nolan brought joy, curiosity and warmth wherever he went, and his energy was infectious.”
He earned a lead children’s role in “Mary Poppins the Musical,” and a lead role in “Shrek the Musical,” and was selected twice to participate in the prestigious A Cappella Academy.
As a Sippican School student he reported for the Cub Reporters, a prolific student news media team. At Old Rochester Regional High School Nolan earned the Excellence in Chorus award for his first year.
Online, Nolan wrote that his goal was to one day attend Berklee College of Music.
A GoFundMe page set up to help the Gibbons family pay for funeral and other unexpected expenses raised $28,378 in one day toward a $50,000 goal, and brought in donations from AcaPop fans from as far away as Georgia.
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