|
Rev. Gloria Caroll Kennedy Berberich, Vicar Emeritus |
|
Gloria was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia April 28, 1928, the daughter of Dr. C.P and Eula Green Kennedy. She was one of three girls, her twin, Elizabeth K. Saunders and an older sister, Jennelle K. Covert. Gloria grew up in Fredericksburg and moved to what is now Argyle Heights, Stafford County in 1936. She was a member of the Civil Air Patrol in the early >40s and had a private pilot’s license before she had a driver’s license.
Gloria attended public schools in Fredericksburg and graduated from Mt. Vernon Junior College in 1948. She worked for the Marine Corps at Quantico until her marriage to John V. Berberich, III in 1951. They have four children John V. IV, Jane S. Berberich, Mary P. Berberich, David A. and five grand-children.
In 1952 Gloria and John were confirmed Episcopalians at St. George’s, Fredericksburg and from that time until 1972 her interests and activity in the work of the Church progressively expanded. At R.E. Lee in Lexington, Virginia she served on the Altar Guild and was Chair of the Diocesan Committee on Missions. She was a Delegate to the Tri-Annual Meeting of the ECW during the 1964 General Convention. At St. Christopher’s in Springfield, Virginia she was the first woman elected to the Vestry and to be Junior Warden. In the late 1960s she entered George Mason College to complete requirements for a baccalaureate degree which was a prerequisite for admission to Virginia Theological Seminary. Unlike most clergy, she has a B.S. in Business Administration. Gloria graduated from VTS in 1976 when she was ordained deacon. In 1977 she became one of the first women priest regularly ordained in the Episcopal Church.
When the family moved to Charlottesville in 1980, Gloria worked as Executive Director of Bloomfield for two years and then as an Assistant to the Rector of Christ Church. In 1986 she began serving as Missioner to St. Luke’s Chapel-Simeon, then a parochial mission of Christ Church. She retired as Vicar in 2000. Under her tutelage in the 1990s, St. Luke’s grew and prospered. The church acquired running water and built a small, attractive addition that provided indoor plumbing. This enabled St. Luke’s to grow and become to what it is today.
|