Mary Louise Robbins

Mary L. Robbins, age 90, of Burleson, Texas, formerly of rural Hastings, Iowa, passed away in Burleson on November 30, 2009. Mary Louise Robbins, one of five children of Frances Ann (Merical) and Pearl Francis Gross, was born on December 29, 1918 in Adel, Iowa. She grew up on a farm near "Puckerbrush" and attended school in Adel, where she loved playing girls basketball. Mary graduated at the age of 17 from Adel High School and was valedictorian of her class. She then cared for the school principal's children and took post graduate work for a year in order to start nursing school at age 18. She attended Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa and again held the distinct honor of graduating as valedictorian of her nursing school class. Mary worked as a registered nurse for two years. Mary and Joseph Mark Robbins were married in the Robbins' family home north of Hastings, Iowa on April 12, 1941, which was also Joe's birthday. They made their home on the family farm, growing grain and raising livestock. Their marriage was blessed with two children, Mary Jo and Mark Lewis. The Robbins family was active in the Wesley Chapel neighborhood. Mary was a me...[more]

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r of the Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church and WSCS. She loved to sing and swing dance with Joe. On a whim, Mary could come up with dry witty little jokes and loved to sing funny and unusual children's songs. She enjoyed reading, knitting, and gardening in her 3-acre yard. Mary made the best pies and bread for miles around. She loved her family and was a whiz at playing pitch and bridge card games, and enjoyed the times when the entire family would get together. As their health declined, Mary and Joe permanently moved to their home on the Lake of the Ozarks near Camdenton, Missouri, and enjoyed living near their son Mark and his wife, Peggy. Mary and Joe had been married 64 years when Joe died at the Lake Regional Medical Center in Osage Beach, Missouri on July 25, 2005. Mary continued to live in their home until April of 2007, when she moved to live with her daughter, Mary Jo, in Burleson, Texas. Mary passed away at Mary Jo's on November 30, 2009 at the age of 90 years, 11 months, and 1 day. Mary was preceded in death by her parents, Pearl Gross and Frances Gross Beasley; husband Joe Robbins; brother Earl Gross and wife Ruth; sisters, Ruth Howlett and her husbands, Ted O'Keefe and Al Howlett, Gladys McClarey and husband Everett, and Stella Lisle and husband Lorance; and brother-in-law Lee Robbins and wife Ethel. Mary is survived by her daughter, Mary Jo Cureington of Burleson, TX; son, Mark Robbins and wife Peggy of Camdenton, MO; four granddaughters, Angie (Cureington) Blanchard of Weatherford, TX, Elizabeth (Cureington) Dixon of Burleson, Tami (Robbins) Chaffee and husband David of Woodbridge, VA, and Dinah (Robbins) Sampson and husband Jeremy of Hastings; six great grandchildren; nieces and nephews; other relatives and friends. Memorials suggested to the donor's choice.