MaryBeth Hibbert

MaryBeth Hibbert, 77, of Burlington, VT, died peacefully on August 30, 2025, with her best friend and loving husband of 55 years, Dick, by her side. After a long series of health struggles that culminated in a diagnosis of an aggressive and advanced acute myeloid leukemia, MaryBeth asked her loved ones to let her go. Anyone who ever met MaryBeth knows her family had no choice but to do what she said.
MaryBeth was born in Georgetown, DE on February 24, 1948, to Grover and Mary (Kennedy) Foster and graduated from Millsboro High School in 1966. While playing her guitar and singing at the Grace United Methodist Church in Millsboro, DE in June 1969, she caught the eye of the church's summer ministry intern, Richard Hibbert. When it rained on their first date in Rehoboth Beach and Dick offered to bring the car to her, MaryBeth insisted on walking, saying "I'm neither sugar nor salt. I won't melt." Dick learned over the next 56 years that MaryBeth had lied-she was both sweet and salty.
MaryBeth and Dick were married July 12, 1970, in Millsboro and moved to Great Cacapon, WV, into the first of eight church parsonages they lived in during the next 40 years of Dick's career in ministry. They lived in West Virginia, Lake Luzerne, NY, Centre Glenville, NY, Champlain, NY, Voorheesville, NY, Plattsburgh, NY, Williston, VT, and Burlington, VT. These parsonages were owned by the church, but with MaryBeth's touch, they each became a home.
From the beginning, Dick and MaryBeth were each other's best friend, supportive, encouraging, and fiercely protective of one another. Early on, he gave her a card to say "You and Me Against the World." She was his cheerleader, albeit one who could curse like a sailor. The times they fought, they reminded each other they'd "rather fight than switch." They laughed through their struggles. They sang together. They made art together. They grew together.
MaryBeth didn't dream of being a pastor's wife but she definitely put her stamp on the role. When asked for advice on marrying a minister, she said, "Always answer the door with a hat in hand. If it's someone you'd like to speak with, you can say you just got home. Otherwise, 'sorry, I'm heading out the door.'"
That quip aside, don't be fooled: MaryBeth lived to care for others. This became especially apparent upon the birth of her three children whom she loved "a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck." She instilled in them a love of family, children, music, and creative expression, as well as her wonderfully eccentric humor-The car she drove had a dreamcatcher hanging from the mirror. We'll pause a moment to let that sink in.-all while encouraging her children to find their own joys in life. MaryBeth is the reason Amy has sewn hundreds of Halloween and school play costumes, Emily is a teacher of young children, and Seth blames a frog whenever he burps.
As MaryBeth's children grew, so too did her capacity for caregiving as well as her intrinsic need to protect all children. At home, every child who walked through the door-school friends, neighborhood and church children, the children of family friends-was surrounded by love and inclusion. In her career, whether as a suicide prevention hotline operator, a child care professional, or a child care specialist for STOP Domestic Violence, MaryBeth was hyperfocused on fostering children's imaginations and preserving their innocence. When the time came to devote thousands of hours to caring for her six grandchildren, you could say she was qualified for the job. Her grandchildren will remember fairie houses, baking Christmas cookies, and that Gammy / Grandma / Mama loved them to the moon and back.
MaryBeth's love was boundless (she told nearly every hospital care provider she loved them). Her love overflowed into her artwork, cooking, and gardening. The walls of Dick and MaryBeth's home are blanketed with her creative expressions, each with its own story of love, loss, resurrection, redemption, and fulfillment. Her kitchen was a constant source of comforting aromas of chicken pot pie, pumpkin pie, stews, canned jam, and, of course, grits. And the gardens! She was never more at peace than when tending to a seedling, and each plant she touched breathed with the kind of confidence only the greenest of thumbs could inspire. MaryBeth single-handedly kept Red Wagon Plants in Hinesburg in business. We kid, but MaryBeth's gardens through the years yielded crops envied by farmers near and far. Over 40 pounds of produce from her 2025 garden have already been donated to the Colchester Food Shelf and her family is thankful for one last opportunity to savor her tomatoes, cucumbers, and beans.
MaryBeth was the bravest person we ever knew. Her life was not easy and the struggles she worked through just to have to face mobility issues late in life and leukemia at the end leave us all susceptible to feelings of bitterness. It's only fitting that MaryBeth's own words are helping us process these feelings: "We all live on borrowed time so make it last by living every moment, every hour, every day. With my family by my side and in my heart, I will never be alone." (Just sayin.)
MaryBeth was predeceased by her parents and her brothers, Grover ("Frosty") and Lon. She is survived by her husband Richard; her favorite oldest child Amy Perry (Matthew); her favorite middle child Emily Ascioti (Nicholas); her favorite youngest child Seth Hibbert (Kathryn); her beloved grandchildren, Emma, Grace, Melody, Nora, Noelle, and Lewis; her dearest baby brother Jim Foster (Donna); and dozens upon dozens of extended family members and cherished friends.
Visiting hours will be held at Ready Funeral Home South Chapel, 261 Shelburne Road, Burlington, VT on Friday, September 26 from 4 to 6 PM. A memorial service will be held at the Shelburne United Methodist Church on Saturday, September 27 at 2:30 PM. In lieu of flowers, the family encourages loved ones to honor MaryBeth's life by supporting their local nursery, planting pollinator-friendly vegetation, and encouraging their children's imagination.
Arrangements are in the care of the Ready Funeral & Cremation Service. To send online condolences, please visit www.readyfuneral.com.