Helen Frances Robinson Whearty

Helen Frances Robinson Whearty, affectionately known as Robbie, died peacefully on September 30th, at the age of 92. Born June 20, 1931 in Buffalo, NY the only child of Blanche and Charles Robinson. She lived on the family farm and attended Barker Central School and then Syracuse University majoring in Home Economics. There she met her future husband Lester Marvin Whearty and married on June 21, 1952. Robbie is survived by her son Charles Whearty, daughter Kathryn (Robert Finley) and granddaughter Jacquelyn Ford and several cousins, nieces and nephews. After the death of her father in 1967, the family moved back to Barker, NY to help Robbie’s mother run the homestead family fruit farm. She was active with the farm bookkeeping, taught sewing to the local 4-H Club and continued her lifelong talent for needlework and knitting. Robbie and Lester retired to Fort Meyers, Florida in 1984 and then moved to Sun City West, Arizona in 1988. She made fast friends in her needlework and knitting groups and won awards for her needlework at craft shows. She welcomed her only grandchild, Jacquelyn in 1996. Her husband Lester died in 2004 and moved to be near family in the Pacific Northwest in 2005. She made many new friends at the Woodland Ter- race retirement community in Bothell, WA. She continued her passion for needlework, creating wonderful pieces that spanned from delightful Christmas ornaments to expansive canvases portraying different cultures, animals, and sceneries in crewel, needlepoint and other embroidery styles. Robbie lived well and we will cherish the time we had with her. Sometimes you could catch a sly smile when you knew the joke was on you but she was too polite to let you know. We will miss her but celebrate all the great occasions big and small that she shared with us.