Victoria Lombardi, 64, teacher and editor

Victoria P. Lombardi, 64, of Newtown, a teacher, editor, and volunteer, died of breast cancer Sunday, Nov. 4, at the home of friends in Bucks County.

Her husband, Thomas Francis Lombardi, had hoped to honor his wife's wishes to die at home, but as Hurricane Sandy approached, he moved her to dodge the expected power outage.

The move was prescient. "On Saturday, my house lost power," he said. Mrs. Lombardi died peacefully after spending the previous two weeks receiving friends.

Her husband, emeritus English professor at Holy Family University, said the two met when she signed up for his seminar on Shakespeare.

She came back to visit after graduating and he invited her to dinner. Later, he recalled thinking, "I've got to marry this wonderful person."

In 1974, he did. The marriage lasted 38 years. "They were the greatest years of my life," he said.

A native of Philadelphia, Mrs. Lombardi was educated in the city's Catholic schools. She received her bachelor's degree in English from Holy Family in 1969, and her master's degree in English from Villanova University.

She taught elementary school for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and worked as a manager for Philadelphia National Bank in the 1970s.

Until four years ago, Mrs. Lombardi taught literature, writing composition, and communications at Holy Family and La Salle University.

When cancer impinged on her strength, she retired, and her husband retired, too, so he could care for her.

Mrs. Lombardi was known as a gourmet cook, a skilled photographer, and an expert musician, playing piano, violin and harp for friends and students.

She proofread and wrote poetry for Folio, Holy Family's literary journal, and edited her husband's academic papers.

"Victoria was truly an all-around Renaissance woman, living a life that one cannot so casually pass by," her husband said.

Many of Mrs. Lombardi's volunteer activities centered on faith. She donated her writing skills to help the monks at St. Benedict's Center in Still River, Mass.; paid a weekly visit to the Shrine of St. Pio of Pietrelcina in Barto, Pa.; and crocheted lap blankets for the sick at St. Mary Medical Center in Bucks County.

Perhaps her proudest accomplishment was the choir she directed at the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown.

"She was beloved by her students," her husband said.

The two traveled extensively and were in eastern Europe to witness the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. "That was exciting," he said.

A 9 a.m. visitation on Friday, Nov. 9, will be followed by a 10 a.m. Funeral Mass at St. Anne's Chapel at the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, 654 Ferry Rd., Doylestown, Pa. 18901. Entombment will follow at the shrine cemetery.

Mass card donations may be sent to any charity in Mrs. Lombardi's memory.