Roberta Hohenberger

Roberta Ann Hohenberger, June 20,1950-May 14, 2009 Narrated by Wayne Quick, her brother –in-law, at her memorial on May 18, 2009. Roberta Ann Paul Hohenberger was named Roberta at birth but she also had many other names. When she was a small child her Grandmother Paul’s boyfriend in Iron Mountain nicknamed all three Paul girls. Her sister Elaine’s name was “Princess”, Janet’s was “Skeeter Bug” and Roberta was called “Lone Ranger”. Her family called her Berta, a neighbor always called her Robbie, her brother-in-law called her Reeberta. She also was called Rubbertoe and most recently Berta Lou by her sisters. Her husband Gary called her “Mamma” or “Baby”, or “Sweetheart”. However, our favorite name for her was “Hawkeye”. She never missed a thing, be it a deer in the field or any emotion felt by her family and friends. She had a life-long, child-like sensitivity and awareness. Her sister Janet related this story of their childhood. The family had a metal swing set in the backyard of the house on Garfield Street in Chelsea. The set had a metal hollow pole across the top, the pole that held the swings and slide. Roberta and Janet were standing on the support bars, each speaking to one another through opposite ends of the tube. All of a sudden swarms of hornets came out of the two ends and both girls went running for their lives. Berta was the neighborhood socialite, and made friends easily. Many remained life-long friends. She was seldom home at dinner time and her Dad made a loud whistle from the front door to call her home. But sometimes she didn’t hear the call and Janet would be sent off to find her. Janet learned quickly to run faster than Berta because the last one in the door would get a bop on the back of the head. When she was a teenager the Paul family went on a vacation and she cried through the entire time. You see, she had left a boyfriend back at home. Berta was the last one to leave home and became very close to her parents, Bo and Thelma. She had a special relationship with her Dad and her urn will be placed with her father at his grave site. Every year on her Dad’s birthday, she would go to the cemetery and split a beer with her, pouring half on the ground and drinking the other half. After her Dad died she called her Mom every day to check in on her. She did that for 10 years. While still at home she worked at the Chelsea Bank then Central Fiber. She was a loyal employee and was able to purchase her own car, a Dodge Dart Swinger, green with a white stripe. One day Berta decided to “burn some rubber” and damaged her car. Needless to say her Dad wasn’t very happy with her. In 1973 Gary was in the National Guard and was in training in Grayling. Howard Stoll had been Roberta’s former boyfriend and as Howard and Gary were talking one night at the barracks, Howard asked Gary if he’d like to meet Roberta Paul from Chelsea. He told Gary that she liked fast cars, especially Corvettes. Well, that sounded just fine to Gary. He gave her a call when he got back home to Ann Arbor and they set a date. Roberta was at that time living with a roommate in an apartment on Grant Street in Dexter. Gary was running late for their date and hurriedly dressed himself in a pair of slacks and drove his Monte Carlo to Dexter. When he arrived for their date, her roommate told him she was not there. He was very upset to think that she was standing him up and left (he later learned that she was watching him from next door). She had dated a fellow who was constantly late and/or standing her up and she wasn’t about to go through that again. Anyway, Gary called her a week later and she warned him that he better not be late. So, Gary has Howard to thank or blame, and Gary’s vowed to Howard that”I’ll get even- if it’s the last thing I do”. Later Gary bought himself that Corvette. Berta and Gary married on July 11, 1974. After their wedding they settle in Ypsi-Tucky and later Whitmore Lake and lastly, Ann Arbor. She started working for the University of Michigan in 1980 and was working in the payroll department until the day last week that she left us so suddenly. Gary always thoughtfully lavished his wife with precious jewelry and fine purses. She was giver her Mother’s wedding ring set after she died and Berta loved to wear it on special family occasions. Motherhood is much more than just giving birth. Berta mothered everyone she loved, every day. Especially, her husband Gary and she just plan spoiled him. When they were first married she would get up hours before she needed to just to make him breakfast and fix his lunch. She would take great pains to make sure his sandwiches were perfect. She made many baby blankets for her co-workers and just last week in Lowell she was looking for coordinating blue and green yarn for a new blanket. She also was a great cook and baker, her specialty being desserts. Just as any of her co-workers here tonight. Her nephew Matt Tuttle passed away three years ago and she made a special point to visit and take care of his grave site each week. The last time she saw Matt she was sitting next to him in his helicopter. As a surprise, Matt flew to Lake LeAnn to give both of his aunts, Berta and Elaine a ride. When Matt motioned for one of them to come, Roberta was the first to jump up, not hesitating for one second. The flight was a special treat over the lakes. One of her nephews is Marc Tuttle. She was especially excited when Marc adopted his new kitten Pam. She personally delivered to him a kitten present filled with treats and several toys. Just a week ago Sunday, she made Marc some “Puppy Chow” and refilled his container. It is Marc’s favorite snack. She was so proud of Matt Lennox, her oldest nephew and his lovely wife, Bonnie. When their baby Riley was born two months early, Aunt Berta was right there at the hospital to see and pray for her new great-nephew. She only had one niece, Trisha and she was very selective about who Trish dated and later married. It was absolutely imperative that she give her approval over boyfriend choices. Trish and her Aunt Berta had a special bond and Trish sent her a Mother’s Day card every year. Just six weeks after Riley was born Aunt Berta was overjoyed when Trisha also gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Logan. Trisha always joked that she would put all three sisters, “the old biddies”, in a home together so it would be easy for her to check in on them. The three girls laughed and laughed over a video taken of me gingerly (and quite amusingly) stepping over rocks in a stream near a glacier in Alaska. I had never seen her laugh so hard and so long. They replayed that video over and over and over, and didn’t care that I was in the room. Berta and Gary visited Tom and Janet in Arizona. Gary got too close to some Jumping Cholas and Roberta laughed about him screaming like “a wild banshee”. Berta’s brother-in-law Tom was an extremely wonderful host and treated them to many great adventures and generously opened his villa to them for a week. She was a world traveler and enjoyed her many trips immensely. She took several cruises and went to Las Vegas and Europe with Jean and Jeanine. Elaine, Roberta and Janet took trips, one or two every year in the state of Michigan or Indiana. Gary generously shared Berta, allowing us to spend as much time with her as we could. He continued that generosity in allowing her to live on through tissue donations. Her passions included her Sheltie-Toby who she often called Toby-Lyn-Skee. She named him Toby after Toby Keith, her favorite singer whose music you hear tonight. Her other passion was cookbooks. She had bookshelves and bins full of them. She was generous, always showering her sisters with little presents, personal sweet gifts. She was funny too- just last week I asked her how long she had been married and she didn’t miss and beat and answered “too long”. When in the car with her, she would see a field of cows and immediately call our, “Up girls”. You see, if cows were lying down, it was going to rain. She never failed to urge those cows up. She pinned her Dad’s St. Christopher medal to the visor in her car and said the rosary every night at bedtime. After her Mom died, she used her Mother’s rosary. She had several minor health issues but seldom complained. She took a trip just ten days ago to the Holland Tulip Festival with her two sisters. Elaine and Janet are so thrilled to have been able to spend several wonderful days with their special angel. It was the best trip they had ever taken together. They never suspected it would be their last adventure.
— Claine Quick / Janet M Tuttle