VERENA RYBICKI

1933 - 2019

RYBICKI, Verena (Morgan) Writer, Editor & Educator PEABODY - Verena Rybicki, nee Morgan, formerly of Lexington, died on December 10, 2019 at Brooksby Village in Peabody. She is survived by her husband George, son Stephen, daughter Sarah Holtan, and three grandchildren, Aidan and Toby Rybicki, and Gus Holtan. Born in England in 1933, Verena was brought up in India, where her father, William Stanley Morgan, was a doctor with the British army, who was for a few years posted to Tibet. In 1937, Verena and her mother visited him there briefly, a rarity, since Tibet was not normally open to Westerners. For many years, Verena had the distinction of being the earliest Western visitor to Tibet still alive. For this she was honored at a special meeting with the Dalai Lama in New York in 2009. In 1944, she returned to England from India, where she lived in Reading and Chesterfield. After her training at Dorset House School of Occupational Therapy in Oxford in 1956, she immigrated to the US, working at Mass Mental Health Center until her marriage to George Rybicki in 1963. She went on to get her BA degree at Boston University in 1972 and her MS degree in special education at Lesley University in 1975. She taught special education in the Lexington Schools until 1981, and then ran her own private tutoring practice until retiring in 1998. Verena had a passion for writing and quilting, which she combined by writing nearly forty articles for quilting magazines and by writing a book, Visions and Voices, a history of her quilt guild, Quilters' Connection. She also was the editor for her father's memoir, Amchi Sahib: A British Doctor in Tibet 1936-37. ARRANGEMENTS: Verena's Memorial Service will be held at Brooksby Village at a later date. Assisting the family with the arrangements is the Peterson-O'Donnell Funeral Home, 167 Maple St. (Rte. 62), DANVERS. www.odonnellfuneralservice.com

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