Sybil L. Stokes, 89, died of complications from COVID-19 on December 31, 2020. She lived in the Princeton area for more than half her life.

Born in Brooklyn, Sybil was the daughter of Samuel and Sadie Langbaum and the younger sister of Lawton and Stanley. A bright, bookish girl, she graduated as valedictorian of Lafayette High School in 1949. She attended Cornell University on a Regents scholarship, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa her junior year, and graduated in the Class of 1953. She then went to Yale University, to pursue graduate study in Political Science. There she met Donald E. Stokes, a fellow graduate student. The two married in 1955. As an interfaith couple, they had two ceremonies, one Jewish, the other Quaker.

Sybil and Don began their married life in Ann Arbor, where they both worked at the University of Michigan and raised their two daughters, Betsy and Sue. Sybil conducted research at the Institute of Public Administration and co-founded the Center for Continuing Education of Women. Her political activism included serving as President of the county chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, campaigning for Democrats, and participating in various civil rights and anti-Vietnam War activities. Sybil attended the Ann Arbor Friends Meeting for nearly 20 years.

In 1974, Sybil moved to Princeton when Don became Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School School of Public and International Affairs (now the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs). Many of the School’s faculty and administrative staff became her dear friends. She worked at the Educational Testing Service, eventually directing the SAT program, and as Director of Grants Management for the State of New Jersey’s Health and Human Services Department, from which she retired in 1992.

In retirement, she pursued her passions for literature, the The New York Times crossword, and social justice, tutored for Literacy Volunteers, and served on the board of Child Care Connection. She traveled the world with Don until his death in 1997 and later with her family and her friends. She moved to Stonebridge retirement community in 2010, where she chaired the Program Committee for several years.

Sybil is survived by her daughters, Elizabeth Stokes (Mesut B. Çakır) of Princeton and Susan C. Stokes (Steve Pincus) of Chicago, five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

To honor Sybil’s memory, donations may be made to Mercer Street Friends of Trenton or the ACLU of New Jersey. A celebration of Sybil’s life is planned for the future.