Virginia Bergin MacKenzie, OFS, PhD

Dr. Virginia MacKenzie was born and raised in Orlando, Florida.  She was the youngest child of Justice and Mrs. Robert J. Pleus, Sr.  She graduated from St. James High School where she was the class valedictorian.  She then graduated from Trinity University in Washington, D.C., and holds a Masters’ Degree in Public Administration and a Doctorate in Public Policy from the University of Buffalo Graduate School of Management.

Virginia was a member of the Political Science faculty of NazarethCollege in Rochester, NY.  She served as a Special Assistant to the County Manager in Rochester, after which she was President of Bergin Enterprises, a management consulting firm.  Later she became the National Marketing Director for a travel association and Director of Operations for the Independence Party of New York State.

In 1996, Virginia moved to Hilton Head where she was an Executive Supervisor for Marriott Vacation Club International.  She served on the Board of the Art League of Hilton Head and was Chairman of the committee which started the Art Academy of the Art League.  In 2005, Virginia was the Art League Featured Artist, exhibiting her Oriental Watercolors.  In 2014, she was the Featured Artist of her international paintings at the SOBA gallery in Bluffton.  She was the first President of the Arts and Cultural Council of Southern Beaufort County in 2007.

Virginia was Vice Chairman of the local Junior League Sustainers and belonged to one of the Junior League Book Clubs, the Camera Club of Hilton Head, the Ski Club of Hilton Head, the Navy League, Notre Dame Club, the Palmetto Quilt Guild, and the Society of Bluffton Artists.  She lived in Port Royal until she moved to Tide Pointe where she was a member of the singing group called the Ebb Tides, the Bible Study, and the sewing group called Darn Yarns, Needles and Thread.

She is predeceased by her loving husband Robert B. MacKenzie.  She is survived by son Michael Bergin (Amy) of Atlanta; daughter Patricia Bedard (Deirdre Coyle) of Rochester; son Timothy Bergin (Gabriela) of Greenville; seven grandchildren – Colleen (Ben Estes), Patrick (Jonathan Penna), Mary, Molly, Michael, Maya, Arianna; three great grandchildren Liam, Ethan, and Ingrid, plus twenty-one nieces and nephews and special friend William Trecartin. She is predeceased by her eldest son, Daniel P. Bergin of Park City, Utah; brother, Justice Robert Pleus, and two sisters, Florence Bowen and Joan Laughlin.

Virginia was an avid swimmer, water and snow skier, and scuba diver. In 1977, she competed in the National NASTAR adult ski racing championships in Park City, Utah where she placed fifth nationally in the women’s 40 to 49 age group.  She also is author of two published books, “The Shirt On His Back – escape from Liberia”, and “One More Last Trip.”  She was a world traveler, having visited 129 countries. Her 130th trip was up to Heaven.

Virginia was admitted to the Third Order of St. Francis as a Secular Franciscan in 2010.  She was a Eucharistic Minister at St. Francis by the Sea with a special ministry to the sick in the Hilton Head Hospital, for five years she was a KAIROS prison minister at the Women’s prison in Columbia, SC.

Please send memorial donations to: Franciscan Missions PO Box 130 Waterford, WI 53185.  https://give.franciscanmissions.org/single-donation.

A Franciscan Memorial Mass will be held on Thursday, August 22nd, at 10:00 am at St. Francis by the Sea Catholic Church on 45 Beach City Rd, Hilton Head Island, SC 29926. At 9:30 am prior to Mass a Franciscan prayer service will be held. A gathering will be held immediately following in the St. Francis Family Center..