Victoria Gerber Garbarino's Obituary
Victoria Gerber Garbarino, beloved mother, grandmother, colleague and friend, died peacefully on June 4, 2025. She is fondly remembered for her boundless hospitality, devotion to family, and love of life.
Victoria ‘Vicki’ Garbarino was born on July 11, 1941, in the Bronx, NY, the only child of Gertrude Abplanalp Gerber and Victor Rheinhold Gerber. The demands of the wartime economy meant that she was raised largely by her grandparents, Hans and Marie Ney Abplanalp. Their outsized influence on her formative years cultivated in Vicki a lifelong love of books. Many of her early summers were spent on days-long fishing trips around Long Island.
Vicki attended Holy Rosary, her local parish grammar school, and went on to high school at St. Michael’s Academy in Manhattan, where she excelled as both student and athlete – in spite of her diminutive stature, the young Vicki was a force on the basketball court. She completed her bachelor’s degree at Fordham University, and soon was hired by IBM as one of their first female programmers - where she learned to work magic with a stack of punch cards.
It was at Fordham that she got to know fellow undergraduate John B. ‘Jack’ Garbarino; they were married on December 14th, 1966. Jack’s military service and academic pursuits took Vicki up and down the east coast, with stops in Augusta, GA, Arlington, MA, and Waltham, MA, before they eventually settled in the New York suburbs. Theirs was a busy home, blessed by the arrival of five children – John Michael, Michael Damon, Victoria Angela, Robert Jude, and Christopher Paul. Vicki was active in her local community association, sang in her parish choir, and devoted endless hours to her children’s various pursuits – many a school day started with a 6AM drive to swim practice, and winter weekends often involved extensive ice hockey road trips. She was extremely proud of the fact that three of her children earned full military scholarships to university. For several years Vicki was a pillar of the West Point Parents’ Club, and she became a surrogate mother to a generation of cadets.
On top of her family commitments, Vicki found time to return to work as an accountant, and in 1995 earned a master’s degree in Human Resources Management from Mercy College. In 1998 came the momentous decision to move to Manassas, VA. She worked happily as a credit analyst at Navy Federal Credit Union until finally deciding to retire at age 70. Vicki took advantage of her newfound freedom to travel extensively, and spend time with her fourteen grandchildren.
In the final years of her life, Vicki waged a running battle with cancer, which overcame her on June 4, 2025. In all her life, she never met a stranger, only a friend she had not yet made. Vicki will be dearly missed by the many whose lives she filled with laughter and love.
Family and friends are invited to a remembrance of Victoria at Loudoun Funeral Chapel, 158 Catoctin Cir. SE, Leesburg, VA, on Monday, July 21st, 2025 from 5:00 - 7:00 PM for visitation. In lieu of flowers, donations in Victoria’s name to The V Foundation for Cancer Research would be appreciated by the family.
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