Mardene Libby Wyant

Mardene Frances Libby Wyant died August 5 2020 of complications of papillary cell thyroid cancer.

She was born the daughter of Maurice and Mildred Libby in Salem New Jersey, but moved to Charlotte North Carolina in her youth. After earning a master’s degree in microbiology at Medical College of Virginia she took a teaching job in their school of Medical Technology (now Clinical Laboratory Science) in Richmond Virginia. There she met and married her husband Thomas Raymond Wyant III. She made a successful career transition from published academic to wife, mother, and homemaker, all difficult careers to which she brought abundant love and all the determination, creativity and intelligence which she applied to her academic life. As offspring matured and married, she extended the full measure of her love to include spouses and their families. In later life she acquired a reputation for her breadth and depth of cerevisaphilic knowledge, having tasted over 5000 beers.

In March of 2012 she was diagnosed with papillary cell thyroid cancer. She lived with this for over eight years, accepting her own mortality, but with determination to embrace life and those she loved while she could. She was predeceased by her parents and her sister Mina Libby. She leaves behind her husband; her children Jacqueline Wyant and her husband João Alves of São Paulo Brazil, and Michael Wyant and his wife Lindsay of Chester Virginia; siblings Marvin Libby and his wife Melinda of Bethune South Carolina, and Marie Dixon and her husband William of Raleigh North Carolina; and grandchildren Jasmine, Andy, Sage, Evelyn, and Serenity.

For someone so small she touched so many people’s lives and will be forever missed.

The family will receive friends from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. on August 19 2020 at the J.T. Morriss & Son funeral home in Chester Virginia. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to PBS, the American Cancer Society, or the charity of your choice.