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| Robbie as one of "The Virginians" |
The news was very hard on Laura as it also brought back a lot of memories of not just Robbie but also her father. She stayed on the phone with Mark a good long time Monday night and they spoke again for a long time again yesterday. Some of the memories made Laura smile and others made her cry. As they say you do not get to choose your family and the stories cover a long and sometimes challenging history.
But I also wanted to make sure to give a highlight of who Robbie was. She was born in Maine and like Laura's mother was involved in the music industry. Robbie was first married to Ervin "Wee Willie" Williams whom she met when they were in High School where they had formed a band called The Northern Lights. Willie and Robbie moved to Portsmouth, Virginia where they continued their performing careers with Dave Dalton as the Virginians and DJ'd for a local radio station. It was at this radio station where they first met Gene Vincent. While living in Virginia Robbie and Willie expanded their family with the birth of their daughter Robin. Some time in Richmond after Willie left Gene Vincent's Bluecaps was followed by time in Syracuse New York where Robbie's son Mark was born. Robbie and Willie divorced in the early 80s, after which she met Laura's Dad.
Robbie stayed active, involved with yoga and even teaching classes on cruises. Her challenges with Alzheimer's did make things difficult and as the years went by and it developed into the latter stages of the disease Mark made sure that she was well taken care of. Mark was also very helpful to Laura and her sisters when Laura's Dad had passed away two years ago making sure that things were taken care of properly and for this and his taking care of Robbie so well I know Laura will always be grateful. I also know that Robbie will always be in Laura's memories.
In Memory of Roberta "Robbie" Williams (nee Merrill)
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