FARMINGTON — Roberta Cleora Weeks French, 101, went to join her beloved husband, Earle French, on Monday afternoon, July 30, at the Pierce House, with loving family by her side.
She was born May 8, 1917, in Wilton to loving parents Robert and Fannie (Priest) Weeks; one of six children, she had two sisters and three brothers.
Roberta received her education at the McCrillis Corner School, and graduated from Wilton Academy in 1934. She attended Columbia University for operating room assistant, then moving to Massachusetts and living with a cousin, she attended and graduated from Cambridge College School of Nursing as an registered nurse. She went on to further her education at Carnegie University, specializing as an operating room registered nurse.
While waiting to start her job as a charge nurse at CMMC, she was doing private duty nursing for a family in Farmington and met a gentleman named Earle French when he delivered groceries from the grocery store he owned. They married in April of 1943, making their home in Farmington for 40 years until Earle’s passing in 1983. Her favorite jobs were being a wife and grandmother, always dishing out love and food.
Roberta gave up her nursing career to help her husband run their grocery store until 1955, when they retired. She was always active, helping with the community school vaccination programs and volunteered for over 20 years with the FMH Auxiliary.
A lifelong member of the Trinity United Methodist Church, she has always been a woman of strong faith. She was a wonderful cook and will be long remembered for her coveted custard pies at church suppers and at the Farmington Fair booth.
Roberta received much enjoyment from gardening, cooking, knitting, crocheting and playing bridge. Many wonderful memories were made at their camp on Clearwater Lake with the grandchildren. Roberta traveled to Alaska, Hawaii, Germany and France, and did a cross-country tour of the United States. Hawaii was her favorite.
She was a strong believer in education, saying, “There is never too much!”
Roberta is survived by her loving family: grandchildren Deborah Seeley and her companion, Bill Sumner; Diane Bolduc and her husband, Michael; and Daniel Seeley and his wife, Debra; great-grandchildren Michael Bolduc II and his wife, Julie; Joey Bolduc and his wife, Terra; Buffy Reeve and her husband, Nathan; Melissa Emmons; and great-great-grandchildren Hunter and Brooke Bolduc; Gavin, Camden and Hannah Bolduc; Jose and Illiana Marquez; and Jackson and Wren Penland; sister-in-law, Doris Weeks; and several nieces and nephews.
In addition to her husband, she was predeceased by her stepdaughter, Janet Seeley, and her husband, Keith; sisters Rena Adams and Glennys Gilbert; brothers Wilmont, Wallace and Milton Weeks; sister-in-law, Ruth Parsons, and husband, Willis.
Roberta was the Weeks’ family social organizer, making sure everyone stayed in touch with one another.
Her family would like to thank the Pierce House Staff and Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice for all of the compassionate care given to their dear grandmother.
Her family invites you to share remembrances and condolences on her memorial wall at www.wilesrc.com.
Roberta C. French
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