Hibernia Hassell Cuthbert

Hibernia McIlwaine Hassell Cuthbert died August 6, 2016 at Chippenham Hospital with family at her side. She was the widow of Charles H. Cuthbert, IV, a member of Petersburg City Council for 18 years and former Mayor. The daughter of Presbyterian missionaries the Rev. Dr. James Woodrow Hassell and his wife Archibald Graham McIlwaine Friend, she was born in Kobe, Japan on December 2, 1917. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Texas.
In 1941 Hibernia married Charlie. During the early years of World War II she worked for the War Department in Washington, D.C. Later during the War Charlie served in North Africa and Italy as an engineer with the Army Air Corps while Hibernia lived with her parents in North Carolina. After the War Hibernia and Charlie made their home in Petersburg, the city where they had met on a blind date at the age of 17 and where they both had deep family roots.
Hibernia participated actively in the life of Petersburg. At St. Paul’s Episcopal Church she founded the Fourth Monday Bible Class, a group she led for fifty years. She was active with the Petersburg Home for Ladies, serving on the Board in many positions, including President. A gifted writer, Hibernia was the author of We Ladies, an engaging history of the PHL. She was a member of the Petersburg Library Foundation, served on the board of District 19 Community Services Board, and for fifty years participated actively in the Woman’s Club of Petersburg. As an avid student of Petersburg history and a booster of her adopted home town, she was instrumental in saving the elegant early 19th century residence in Old Town Petersburg known as the McIlwaine House.
Yet Hibernia’s dominant interest was her family, as she poured her life into the lives of her husband and children and made them what they came to be. She is survived by her four children, Margaret Collier Cuthbert Broaddus, Charles H. Cuthbert, Jr. (Beth), Hibernia McIlwaine Cuthbert Langley (John), and Nathaniel W. Cuthbert, M.D. (Bridget), twelve grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be on Monday August 8, 2016 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at J. T. Morriss & Son Funeral Home, Petersburg Chapel. The funeral service will be held Tuesday August 9, 2016 at 2 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 110 North Union Street, Petersburg, with interment to follow at Blandford Cemetery. In lieu of flowers the family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Petersburg Home for Ladies, 311 South Jefferson Street, Petersburg, VA 23803, where Hibernia was a resident and received exceptional care during the last years of her life.