Vivian Grace (Mateo) Novia

Vivian Grace (Mateo) Novia, 85, of Asheville, NC, formerly of Marlborough, MA, passed away peacefully on August 14, 2019, after a period of declining health.

Vivian was born in Annapolis, MD, on May 13, 1934, a daughter of the late Glen F. and Julia (Horowitz) Pippert; shortly after she moved to Boston, MA, where she was raised and graduated High School. She later attended Rutgers University in New Jersey and eventually settled in Marlborough, where she raised her family and resided for many years. She has resided in Asheville, NC for the past thirty years. Vivian had a long and successful career as a substance abuse counselor both in Marlborough, where she was director of the ARC Program as well as in Asheville where she eventually retired after many years of compassionate and dedicated hard work.

Throughout her life Vivian maintained a personal relationship with God and was a very spiritual individual. She was a friend of Bill W. for over forty years and was a devoted mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.  Vivian lived life to the fullest and was Queen of everything before abdicating the position to her daughter.  She loved to travel domestically and abroad to places such as Italy, Japan, Ireland and Hawaii. She also enjoyed her annual family retreats to York Beach every summer. She was an avid reader and a writer of poetry. Vivian was known by many as “the dragonfly lady” for her lifelong affection for the creatures and the dragonfly tattoo on her hand.

Vivian is survived by her three daughters, Lili A. Micaela of Portland, OR, Robin J. Dufault and her husband Eddy of Marlborough, MA and Vicki L. Fagan of Hudson, MA, whose late husband Michael G. Fagan, predeceased her. She was also survived by two brothers Richard Pippert of MA and Robert Pippert of CA; her grandchildren, Jason A. Dufault of Marlborough, James L. Fagan of Worcester, Amanda M. Chapin and her husband Raymond of N. Brookfield, Emily A. Fagan of Uxbridge; 3 great-grandchildren, Taylor L. Chapin, Raymond M. Chapin, and Riley M Fagan; her stepbrother, Timothy Peters of MA; stepsister, Christy Muise of FL and many nieces and nephews. She was also predeceased by her stepbrother, Theodor Peters and stepsister, Kelly Wells.

Services will be held privatly at a later time. In lieu of flowers donations can be made in memory of Vivian Grace Novia to www. thistlefarms.org.

As Bama used to say, “I hope you dance!”