Roberta Lee Nevitt, 64, Former County Social Worker

Roberta Lee Nevitt, 64, social worker, administrator, writer, educator, political activist, exceptional cook, and spiritual seeker passed peacefully from this life on July 27th, 2012 at Hospice of the Piedmont in Charlottesville, Virginia. She lived fully, productively, and joyfully with and despite her cancer. She was born in Atlanta, Georgia on August 28, 1947. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1968, and her Masters of Social Work from the University of Maryland in 1973. She also studied at the Institute of Culture and Creation Spirituality at Holy Names University in Oakland California.

Roberta was the daughter of the late Dodderidge Chichester Nevitt and Dorothy Hale Nevitt. She is survived by her brother Frederick Nevitt, and her sister-in-law, Leslie Gilbert. She loved the beach and animals and had exceptional relationships with her cats. In high school she worked with the United Nations Youth and the Joe Tydings campaign and actively supported every liberal candidate throughout the rest of her life. Roberta was introduced to the League of Women Voters at Eastern High School. Learning Robert's Rules of Order greatly inspired her as a vehicle for creating responsible discussion in which every person could have a voice. She had a deep and abiding interest in history, current events, and the arts and was always knowledgeable and up to date in each of these subjects.

Her years of work in hospitals, nursing homes, and with the Baltimore County Department of Aging benefited innumerable people, and her wisdom, courage, humor, and equanimity were a gift to all who knew her. Roberta was a loving companion and caregiver to her mother in the last years of her mother’s life. She was also active in the environmental movement and was instrumental in establishing the first Community Supported Agriculture project on publicly owned land in Baltimore County. She was a member of the Sufi Community in Charlottesville.

Her family and friends held a vigil at her home from July 27th through July 29th. Memorial services will be held on August 5th in Charlottesville and on a date to be determined later in Baltimore.

Contributions can be made in her name to the Albemarle County SPCA or to the Charlottesville City or Baltimore County Libraries.