“When she was done talking, I thought we probably should pass around an offering plate,” Stamper said with a laugh. “She was always ready to share. She was a cheerleader and coach. She would motivate you and cheer you on.”
McRoberts, four days shy of her 106th birthday, died Sunday at Atrium.
One of Butler County’s oldest residents, McRoberts outlived two husbands, was survived by a third husband, and drove until recently.
“What a spectacular life she lived,” said her only child, Barbara Garrison, 80, of Middletown. “She touched a lot of lives.”
Born in Preble County on Nov. 17, 1916, McRoberts graduated from West Elkton High School in 1934. She was the last living member in her class of 13 students, her daughter said.
She and her family owned and operated Homan’s Market on Oxford State Road and she also worked at Aeronca Corp. in Middletown and was a Sunday school teacher.
McRoberts often told her daughter: “I love you so much. But my Jesus comes first. You come second.”
Garrison wasn’t surprised by her mother’s comments.
“That’s how it was,” she said. “It wasn’t a news flash. She was a believer and she lived it.”
McRoberts was diagnosed with a mild case of COVID-19 several weeks ago, her daughter said. She was released from the hospital and returned to her Middletown home. That’s when she decided to stop driving, her daughter said.
“She was worn out,” Garrison said.
She was preceded in death by her husbands, C.R. Benner and C.H. Fornshell. Besides her daughter, she is survived by her husband, Bruce McRoberts, and stepchildren, Vicky (Jim Cooley) McRoberts, Scott (Shelly) McRoberts and Joseph McRoberts.
Funeral services will be at noon Thursday at the Breitenbach Anderson Funeral Home, 517 S. Sutphin St. with Pastors Mitchell Burch and Mark Jackson officiating. Visitation will be from 11 a.m. until noon. Interment will be at the Woodhill Cemetery.
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