Sibylle Heidrich

Sibylle (von Campe) Heidrich, age 95, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, in hospice care after complications from a fall.

Sibylle was born on May 23, 1927, in Halle/Westfalen, Germany, the third of four children and the only daughter of Alfred and Margarete.  In the mid 1930’s during the rise in Hitler’s power, her family was sent away from their hometown when her father refused to join the Nazi party.  The war years were very difficult for Sibylle’s family and before World War II ended, Sibylle would lose her father, who died in a Russian camp, and her brother Asche, who died on his third day on the battlefield at the age of 18 after being drafted into the army.  Sibylle was sent to a farm in the Russian occupation zone to work and was reunited with her mother and two remaining brothers at the end of the war.

After the war, Sibylle became a midwife, following in her mother’s footsteps, and travelled via motorbike in Germany delivering babies.  In 1971, Sibylle married widower Hans Heidrich and emigrated to the United States, settling in Mansfield, Ohio.  In 1981, Hans and Sibylle were sailing down the Mississippi River in a boat they had built themselves, when the boat broke down in Pass Christian, Mississippi.  They were enchanted by the area and the people there and decided to settle down in nearby Long Beach.  They spent the rest of their lives together there.  Hans built Sibylle a birthing cottage for her midwife practice next door to their house, and she continued to deliver babies there well into her eighties.  They travelled frequently together to their native Germany and to visit friends and family around the US and in South America.  At the age of 90, Sibylle travelled to Israel on a pilgrimage to make amends and apologize to the Jewish people on behalf of her native Germany for the atrocities they committed during World War II.

A strong and active woman, she was always in motion, walking, swimming, bicycling, and helping others however she could.  She was fiercely independent, strong in her convictions and opinions, and with a deep faith in God.  She took pride in her good health, her white “blond” hair, and her lifetime of accomplishments.  She regarded her nieces and nephews as the children she never had and delighted in hosting them at her home.  Every December the family looked forward to her parcels of homemade German Christmas cookies, sausages, and pecans arriving before the holidays.

Sibylle was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 35 years, Hans Heidrich; her parents Alfred and Margarete; her brothers Asche and Hilmar; and her stepsons Carl Heidrich and Lutz Kunze.  She is survived by her brother Burchard von Campe and wife Hardy of Guayaquil, Ecuador; her sister-in-law Dina von Campe of Silverhill, Alabama; nephews Alfred, Clemens, Stefan and Constantin von Campe and nieces Tita von Rössing and Sabrina von Campe Lew.  She also leaves many close friends who provided immeasurable care and support to her in her final years, and especially in the last few weeks of her life.

A memorial service will be held at noon on January 21st, 2023 at the Bible Fellowship Church in Pass Christian to celebrate Sibylle’s life.  In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her memory to either Fatherless and Widows (http://www.FatherlessAndWidows.org) or Christian Aid Ministries (https://christianaidministries.org).

Riemann Family Funeral Home, Gulfport, is serving the family.