Nancy Roberts 1950 - 2021

Nancy Roberts transitioned from this life on November 12, 2021. She did so surrounded by loving family. She was preceded in death by her husband, Leland Roberts. Survived by brothers, Robert Stroup and Patrick Stroup, and sister, Alice Neill. Survived by daughters, Kim Roberts of Willamina, Coliene Roberts of Sheridan, and Molly Roberts of McMinnville, Oregon, as well as seven grandchildren.

Nancy was born at Travis Air Force Base in California; she spent her younger life traveling with family as an “Air Force brat." She visited at this time Germany, France, England and Holland. In the early '60s her family settled in Ashland, Oregon, where she went to high school.

She married Leland in 1968. They spent time living in Cave Junction and Estacada before settling outside of McMinnville to raise a family. There she spent 20 years loving and nurturing her three daughters with Leland in the way they knew was best: living off the land. Off the grid and independent from many of the crutches we know that provide our modern day conveniences, Nancy and Lee were ahead of their time. They focused on ideals learned as a part of the “Love Generation” of the 1960s; they built their family's life around those ideals, and never refused to help someone in need.

Known as a mountain woman by many, it was her joy to connect with nature and, specifically, wildlife. She raised such orphaned animals as great horned owls and a deer. She treated them as she did anyone she came in contact with, as a beacon of compassion and light. All who came in contact with Nancy were the better for it. She accepted and showed kindness to all people, seemingly incapable of holding any contempt or judgement in her heart.

She was here with us to teach those around her something about perseverance and the power of the human will. Nancy contracted polio during the polio epidemic of the 1950s. She spent three years in an iron lung at Shriners Hospital for Children. Upon marrying Leland, she learned not to let her “handicap” define who she was or what she could do. For this reason, any remembrances or donations we would like to direct to Shriners Hospital for Children.