Sybil Berkley Obituary
Sybil Vandenburg Berkley, a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, died at age 84 on July 27, 2023, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Born on October 13, 1938, Sybil always felt blessed to have a wonderful family who adopted her, raised her with enormous love and caring, and introduced her to music, hunting, sports, and the importance of education. From an early age, she excelled at just about every activity she pursued. Before her father’s passing in 1953, she enjoyed riding her Tennessee walking horse and hunting with him. At the age of twelve, she shot and killed a charging wild boar from a stump on which she never retreated. She learned to play piano and guitar in her family’s hotel, and she would often fill a room with her amazing singing voice. A gifted athlete and scholar, she organized and lead her high school’s first girls’ tennis team and graduated in the top one percent of her class.
Sybil received a full merit scholarship to attend Louisiana State University, where she pursued one of her childhood passions and graduated with a degree in music in 1959. With her degree in hand and with high hopes in her head and heart, she set plans to move to New York City to pursue a career in the music industry. Unfortunately, tragedy struck her family once again with the passing of her mother. Without hesitation, Sybil chose to remain in Baton Rouge to help close her family’s hotel and real estate businesses. This decision would lead to another passion in which she would also excel.
In Baton Rouge, Sybil began working for the Child Welfare Department. Recognizing her intellectual prowess and her strong desire to help families, her supervisors encouraged her to pursue a graduate degree at LSU. She would eventually receive several scholarships to once again attend her alma mater, where she earned her Masters of Social Work. This degree would eventually lead her to Virginia.
The Medical College of Virginia at VCU hired Sybil to work with Dr. Murray Bowen, who was a leading pioneer in family therapy and a nominee for the Nobel Prize. Working closely with her mentor, she became an expert in the Bowen Family Systems Theory and Therapy. Although Dr. Bowen passed before he could receive the Nobel Prize, through his guidance, Sybil became the Director of Social Work at MCV. In this role, her therapy expertise combined with her business and administrative acumen to help her maneuver through the legislative processes that tied MCV to the Virginia General Assembly.
During her role as a Director for MCV, Sybil met Waverley Lee Berkley, III, a retired United States Marine Corps Captain, a graduate of the University of Virginia’s undergraduate and law schools, and a maritime lawyer in Norfolk, Virginia. In 1970, Sybil and Waverly married and moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia, where Sybil accepted a position as Director of the Institute for Family Therapy and Alcohol Studies at Family Services of Tidewater, Inc., became a Clinical Adjunct Professor at Norfolk State University’s Graduate School of Social Work, and worked in private practice for the Family Counseling Center, Finney Zimmerman Psychiatric Associates, and her own business. She enjoyed helping patients throughout her career and never treated any patient with routine.
Throughout her life, Sybil seized each day with her contagious optimism, which inevitably spilled over into the lives of family and friends. Never losing her Southern-French dialect, she always rooted for her LSU Tigers and occasionally for the Virginia Cavaliers, sang and danced at every opportunity, cared for her many dachshund children, continued to play tennis at a championship level, golfed, enjoyed time at home and abroad with family and friends, and spoiled those she loved at Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays with her amazing Louisiana style cooking.
She was predeceased by her beloved Waverley; her father, Asher Dewitt Vandenburg; her mother, Sybil Lawson Vandenburg; her brother, Asher Dewitt Vandenburg, Jr.; her sister-in-law, Evelyn Berkley Harrison (Robert); and her brother-in-law John McCoy Berkley (Joanne).
She is survived by numerous nephews and nieces; her sister-in-law, Joanne; and many dear friends. She will be deeply missed.
On Friday, July 14, 2023, a burial service will be held at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Norfolk, Virginia at 9:30 a.m., and a memorial service will follow at Galilee Episcopal Church in Virginia Beach at 11:00 a.m. H. D. Oliver Funeral Apts., Norfolk is handling arrangements. Online condolences may be sent to the family through www.hdoliver.com.
Published by The Virginian-Pilot on Jul. 8, 2023.
