Sylvia Bell Oliver's Obituary
Sylvia Bell Oliver passed away in Gainesville, Florida on Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at her home. She was born in Milton, Massachusetts on April 5, 1932. She moved to Gainesville with her husband, Bruce, in 2005 from Naples, Florida where they had lived since 1989.
She received her Bachelor’s degree from Radcliffe College in 1953, and studied at Michigan State University in 1958 while a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the School of Education.
She began her career as an educator in 1953 in Milton, Massachusetts and moved to Camp LeJeune, North Carolina in 1954, following her marriage to R. Bruce Oliver, then a First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. She continued as an educator while there and later in Braintree, Massachusetts. Prior to moving to Naples, she had been a paralegal for a Boston law firm until her husband retired. On moving to Naples, Florida in 1989, she served for years as a teaching volunteer in the local schools.
An avid tennis player, Sylvia and her husband traveled extensively to various tournaments and always found courts on which to play from the Alps of Switzerland to the lava on fields on Hawaii, the resorts in the Caribbean and up and down the east and west coasts of the US. Tennis continued until 80 when age caught up with Sylvia and Bruce.
She is survived by her husband, Bruce; daughter, Susan; son, R. Bruce Oliver, Jr.; four grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.
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