OBITUARY: Anna Jess Roberts, Florida
Anna Jess Roberts (nee Mackay), who spent her early years in Embo, has passed away at her home at Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. She was aged 82.
The end came peacefully on March 12, and followed a courageous battle with Alzheimer’s.
Anna Jess’s was a life well lived during which she contributed much to society as a nurse, foster carer, volunteer and founder of a children’s day care centre.
She was born in Achiltibuie, the daughter of Willie and Mary Ann Mackay, who already had a daughter Isobel and sons Donald and Hamish.
The family returned to their roots in Embo just before the beginning of World War II. It was a familiar environment with so many relatives living nearby that the village seemed to be one big family.
Two more children, Kenneth and George, were born before the family relocated to Glasgow in search of work.
After finishing secondary school, Anna Jess trained as a children’s nurse in Eastpark Homes, Maryhill.
On qualifying, she found employment as a children’s nurse in Quarrier’s Homes, Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire.
But a sense of adventure led her to apply for a job she spotted in a local paper as a governmess to the children of the Secretary of the US Navy.
Her application was successful and she spent some time with the Resors before meeting and marrying Derry Roberts.
They had two children Deanna and Mariann and over the next 20 years or so, fostered more than 40 children, four of whom they adopted.
Anna Jess and her husband also went on to establish a children’s day care centre at Bolton Landing in New York State.
In 1992 they received the Bolton Citizen of the year award for their volunteer work and an award from Warren County for their many years as dedicated foster parents.
