DARTMOUTH - Avis M. (Stubbs) Robinson, 86, of New Bedford, Massachusetts died January 22, 2010.
A native of Sherman and Stacyville, Maine, she was the mother of six children: Diane and Edward DeJong, Suzanne and Michael Wade, Michael & Carol, Gary (d. 1945), Craig and Patty, and Mark Robinson; four grandchildren: Ann Andrews and Brian Robinson, Jared (d. 2009) and Aaron Wade; five great-grandchildren: Olivia Yuhas, Taylor and Abigail Andrews, Kelsey and Alyssa Robinson.
Avis was a loving and compassionate person who spent her last years in the darkness of Alzheimer's Disease. She graduated from Sherman High School at 16 and was married in 1941. She is survived by her sister, Marilyn Shimp, of Lake Wales, FL, and was pre-deceased after 62 years of marriage by her loving husband, Leslie, her son Gary, her beloved brother, Clayton, a United States Marine who died on the beaches of Iwo Jima, her parents Annie (Ingraham) and Guy Stubbs, her grandson Jared, and a very dear friend, and Contract Bridge partner, Dorothy Marble.
Avis and Leslie wintered in Florida for 30 years at Saddlebag Lake Resorts in Lake Wales where they had many friends and fond memories. She moved to New Bedford in 2006 where she later became a member of the Smith Mills Congregational Church and a resident of The Cedars, both in Dartmouth. The family is especially grateful for the compassionate environment and loving care she received at The Cedars the last 3 ½ years of her life.
Avis was a life-long member of the Washburn Memorial Church, UCC, of Sherman and was active all her adult life in Women's Fellowship and the Church. She was an avid bridge player, evidenced later in life, by "making it" to a scheduled game in Lake Wales not 24 hours after undergoing gall bladder surgery!
Avis loved people and was a great conversationalist, renowned in the family for speaking with perfect strangers, genuinely interested in their "stories." She loved babies and children and was a wonderful wife, mother, daughter, sister, daughter-in-law, mother-in-law, grandmother and friend. She was an intelligent and engaged woman, an accomplished cook and gardener, an active and involved member of her community, yet always found time to visit and be with people. She was greatly loved by family and friends and will be sorely missed.
Friends in the New Bedford area are invited to visit with the family at the home of Michael and Carol at 887 Pine Hill Drive, New Bedford from 1:00 to 4:00 on Sunday, January 31st. A memorial service in her honor will be held in Maine this summer.
Donations to the Ronald MacDonald House, 654 State Street, Bangor, ME 04401-05649 would be appreciated in lieu of flowers.