Frederick Theodore Heblich Jr. and Mariflo Sanders Stephens Heblich

Frederick Theodore Heblich Jr. and Mariflo Sanders Stephens Heblich

Frederick Theodore Heblich Jr. died on Tuesday, November 2, 2021. He had leukemia. Mariflo Sanders Stephens Heblich died the following day of complications relating to liver disease. Pillars of Charlottesville and married for 38 years, theirs was a love story for the ages.

They are survived by their two daughters, Elisabeth Jane Stephens Heblich, and Isabel Marie Zermani, as well as their two grandchildren, Frederick Arthur Helleberg and Olivia Pearl Zermani. Mariflo was predeceased by her sister, Melva Potts, and is survived by her brother, Alfred Stephens and her sister, Deanna Taylor. Fred was predeceased by his sister, Suzanne Rostovskis, and is survived by another sister, Janice Nadeau.

Fred was born and raised in Westville, a small town in southern New Jersey, where he attended the local public schools. He attended the University of Virginia and earned undergraduate and law degrees. He practiced law in Charlottesville for 40 years, mostly defending indigent criminal defendants, in private practice and most recently as the Federal Public Defender. He also co-authored the praised book, Holsinger's Charlottesville.

Mariflo was born in Wytheville, Virginia on September 3, 1950, to parents, Frank and Isabel Dean Stephens. She was a fire-twirling majorette who studied music and graduated from James Madison University with a degree in English. An early career in journalism led to a MFA in creative writing from the University of Virginia. A decorated writer and beloved teacher, her writing could be found in The Washington Post, VQR, and multiple anthologies. She was the recipient of both the Thomas Griffiths and Sherwood Anderson prizes for the short story, the Miller Audio prize in prose, and was nominated for the Pushcart prize multiple times. Her recent collection of poetry, Dream Straw, is lauded by colleagues and readers. She shared her gift of creative writing through teaching at Hollins, Hampden-Sydney, and the University of Virginia. Dream Straw and her anthology Some Say Tomato can be found locally at New Dominion Bookshop, where she led a book discussion group for over 20 years.

Please make donations to the Charlottesville SPCA or the National Museum of Women of the Arts in their memories. A memorial will be held in spring.