Elizabeth W. Dreibelbis M’87
A special soul, Elizabeth Wurster Dreibelbis, ended her decades-long battle with medical issues initiated or aggravated by her rheumatoid arthritis (RA) at 12:40am on Nov. 10th . With this passing, she rejoins her son, Benjamin, her daughter Rebekka, her parents, her daughter-in-law Beth, and extended family members who preceded her in this journey and who were so important to her in life. She is survived by a son, Brian, grandchildren Emily, Morgan, Gretchen, Lauren, and Noah; and her friend of 53 years and husband of 48 years, Douglass. Elizabeth will be remembered by her many friends and family for her fierce personality, strong will (and opinions), her endless compassion, her fantastic gardens, and most importantly, her deep love of show tunes.
Of the many, many gifts that Elizabeth brought to her relationships was her ability to see in others what they COULD be, not only what they were in the moment. She was always willing to invest the time and work to help others achieve their full potential. This was true for her work with the students in her classroom, as an activist and leader in our church, and as an advocate and leader in her chosen social service organization, Joint Urban Ministry Project (JUMP). In JUMP, among other impacts she made, she initiated an activity that gave donated books to the children of JUMP clients, recognizing that a family that was struggling to feed itself was unlikely to be buying books. True to her teacher spirit, Elizabeth wanted to feed the children’s minds, not just their bodies. She managed to give away thousands of books through this initiative over the years. Elizabeth’s ability to help others rise to their full potential was also a gift she gave to those of us in her immediate family. As a battered child and a kid from the projects, I didn’t have a vision of what my life COULD be. Elizabeth, her parents, and eventually our kids, inspired me to a 35year career as an IBM engineer and to have a life more wonderful than I ever could have imagined. I was so blessed to have known this special human being. She was deeply loved and highly respected by all of us who were privileged to have known her. She managed to sprinkle little parts of herself on our son and our grandkids so that portions of her will live on in them, including a fierce love of Better Midler, a green thumb, and what some may call an “opinionated” personality. In lieu of flowers, Elizabeth would prefer that you make a donation to JUMP ( http://www.jumpvt.org/) in her name, so that others can be served as a final act of remembrance of her.