Sylvia Chambliss McElvey, loved by many
Sylvia Chambliss McElvey, 100, passed away at her home at The Lodge at Truitt Homestead in Rehoboth Beach Wednesday, March 13, 2024.
She was born in Knoxville, Tenn., and moved to Winter Haven, Fla., with her family. An excellent water skier, she and her two sisters were on the ski team at Cypress Gardens, and were featured on the cover of Life Magazine. After graduation from high school, she attended Florida State College for Women for a year and then decided to pursue a modeling career in New York City. Her plans were interrupted by the war, and she returned to Florida to help as a nursing aide. In 1944, she married John Octavius McElvey II, who graduated from West Point on D-Day. When her son, John Jr., was a year old, she followed her husband, a U.S. Army Air Corps bomber pilot, to Guam, and the family was stationed there for two years. They returned to Wright Paterson AFB in Ohio, where her daughter, Becky, was born. After that, the family was stationed at The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., and then on to Okinawa for three years before returning to the States again.
As an officer’s wife, Sylvia planned dinner parties and entertained large groups frequently. The family moved every few years and resided in California, Ohio, Maryland, and Virginia. Sylvia and her husband retired to Middleburg, Va., and bought a farm. Sylvia acted and sang with the Middleburg Players. She rode her horses and played tennis. When her husband died suddenly in 1984, she sold the farm and moved to a townhouse in Middleburg, where she lived for years. Interested in her family genealogy, she traveled to London with a friend to research her ancestors. She also traveled to France, Switzerland, and Portugal. She continued to lead a very social life.
In 2010, she moved to Dataw, S.C., to share a home with her daughter and her husband. When her daughter moved to Oregon, Sylvia moved to Delaware to be near her son John and his wife. In 2019, Sylvia decided to move to The Lodge at Truitt Homestead, an independent living facility in Rehoboth Beach, where she organized a bridge group and a poker group. She met many new friends and soon became a much-loved special lady.
She is preceded in death by her mother and father; her two sisters; and her husband, John O. McElvey II. The couple's enduring love story will find its peaceful conclusion as she will be laid to rest beside him at the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. She is survived by her son, John McElvey Jr. and his wife Frances; daughter, Becky Hinely; four grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
