SUWANEE: Elisabeth Berry, muse for Annandale Village

Elisabeth “Libba” Berry was developmentally disabled and probably didn’t fully grasp her impact on the world, but because of her, many other disabled adults led better lives.

Ms. Berry was the fourth child of older parents —- her mother was 41 when she was born —- and they worried about what would happen to her after they died. They saw a need for a homelike residential community for adults like their youngest daughter.

Her parents, Dr. Maxwell Berry and Elisabeth J. Berry, founded the nonprofit Annandale Village in 1969 on a large, wooded tract of land overlooking a lake in Suwanee. The campus has horses, apartments, cottages and a community center, and currently serves about 130 residents.

Ms. Berry lived there for the past 35 years.

Ms. Berry, 55, died from a stroke Sunday at Annandale Village. She had diabetes and numerous other health problems. A memorial service will be Dec. 2 in the Dobbs Chapel of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. H.M. Patterson & Son, Spring Hill Chapel, is in charge of arrangements.

Ms. Berry was born prematurely and was deprived of oxygen, either at birth or during an operation shortly after her birth, said her sister, Daphne Eaton of Atlanta.

Until she was about 10, Ms. Berry attended school with children who were developing normally, her sister said.

“My parents tried to mainstream her, but she was too far off the scale to be able to do well in a normal classroom, even with special teachers,” said Ms. Eaton.

Her parents began planning and raising money for Annandale Village in the early 1960s, traveling to Europe to get ideas, said Ms. Eaton.

Dr. Berry was an Atlanta gastroenterologist. Mrs. Berry had studied architecture and worked as an interior designer, She helped design some of the original buildings at Annandale.

Ms. Berry could read and write at about the level of a first-grader, her sister said. She sometimes worked on simple word puzzles and played solitaire on a computer.

Some residents at Annandale worked outside the village doing such things as bagging groceries, but Ms. Berry was unable to hold an outside job, her sister said.

“She had a habit of humming and talking to herself when she was working,” Ms. Eaton said.

Ms. Berry had a cheerful, positive outlook and took great joy in needlework and her many art projects.

“She did original designs for needlepoint and she was in several art shows in Atlanta and Athens,” said Sandy Weaver of Suwanee, activities coordinator for Annandale Village.

“She was very friendly, loved socializing. She loved our outings, especially to go shopping or to restaurants,” she said.

When Ms. Berry was younger, she was a runner and completed a half-marathon. She loved coffee with lots of milk and sugar, her sister said.

Her life at Annandale turned out to be just what her parents had hoped for, her sister said. “She had a really good life.”

Additional survivors include a brother, Dr. Peter Berry of Monterey, Calif.