Sybil Cassidey McCook

She was predeceased by her husband, Robert L. McCook, DDS, and her two sisters, Evalyn C. Shealy and Patricia C. Smith. Sybil is survived by three sons, Lee R. McCook, W. Scott McCook, and Keith C. (Kelly) McCook, all of Columbia. She is also survived by three nephews and two grandchildren.

A native of Columbia and lifelong resident, Sybil grew up making deliveries for her father’s grocery store on Devine Street and graduated from Dreher High School in 1946. Prior to graduation, she worked as a bank teller and bookkeeper at the Five Points office of South Carolina National Bank, where she continued to work for some fifteen years. After the birth of her second child, she devoted the next twenty-five years to her family. With her children grown, Sybil joined the staff at the Richland County Treasurer’s Office, where she worked for almost 20 years.

Sybil spent her adult life actively involved in Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. For most of those years, she served on the Altar Guild. She also served as a missionary in Haiti, as the “money lady” for countless church events, and as a mentor at WA Perry School. She taught Sunday school, actively participated in the Daughters of the Holy Cross, and volunteered for Camp Bob, Jump Start Prison Ministry, St. Lawrence Place, and the Sunday Morning Breakfasts at Trinity. Perhaps most importantly, she was a faithful longtime member of the Ark Study group. Trinity was her home away from home.

Outside of her church and family, Sybil was an avid reader and enthusiastic tennis player. She played tennis into her late 80’s, making many dear friends along the way.

Sybil also loved adventure. In 1950, she and a girlfriend traveled to Cuba. In her mid-forties, she and her husband began backcountry wilderness trips. Backpacking, canoeing, or traveling by horse, she explored the Canadian Rockies, the California Sierra, and the Canadian Quetico. In her mid-seventies, she took her last such trip, camping with her sons at 11,000 ft. in the High Sierra. At the age of 61, Sybil began a series of international trips that, over the course of 21 years, would take her to 40 countries and every continent but one.

A memorial service and celebration of Sybil’s life will take place at a future date.