Delaine Mae Robie

Delaine Mae Robie was in the presence of loved ones when she passed away at home in Madison, Alabama on July 15^th, 2023. She was preceded in death by her parents, Delbert and Vivian Petersen. She is survived by a host of family and friends, including her sister Carol, her daughter Jennifer (Jason), her son Erik (Sonja), and grandchildren Asher, Kellan, and Nicholas.

Delaine was born in Denver, Colorado on June 20, 1950. She was an artist from the start, beginning with dance throughout her childhood and adolescence. She was a member and choreographer of the drill team at Lakewood High School in Lakewood, Colorado until she graduated in 1968. She attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, where she studied art and Occupational Therapy and was a member of Kappa Delta sorority. She graduated in 1972 with a degree in Occupational Therapy and became an Air Force wife.

Delaine worked as an OT in various places throughout the southwestern United States, giving birth to Jennifer in Abilene, Texas in 1977 and to Erik in Enid, Oklahoma in 1980. The family eventually settled back in to their native Colorado in the early 1980’s and Delaine turned her full focus to her children. She volunteered in classrooms, chaperoned field trips, made costumes for entire classes for school productions, and cheered in the audience for countless performances. She also participated in several church ministries over decades of her life and touched many hearts with the love of Jesus. As an empty nester, Delaine returned to her first love – art. She was a gifted painter and her work was included in local galleries and purchased by admirers.

In 2005 she became a living example that there’s no greater love than to lay down your life for another (John 15:13) when she left everything to move in with her parents and take care of them as they simultaneously walked the painful journey of dementia. She faithfully stayed the course until each of them was released to Heaven – her father in 2013 and her mother in 2014.

Sadly, Delaine began her own journey with the same disease not long afterward. In 2019 she moved across the country to live with family so that she could now be cared for. She met the ensuing challenges and fear with humor, grace and peace, and still touched the hearts of those who met her, even to the end of her life.

Delaine loved the Lord, her children and extended family and friends, laughter, animals, stillness in nature, the smell of rain, and the taste of cinnamon and chocolate. She was a great listener and a fabulous cook, and she had a quiet strength that is rare to behold.

A memorial service will be held at Crown Hill Cemetery in Wheat Ridge, Colorado on September 16^th, 2023. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.