Obituary of Roberta Anne Roberts Risinger

RisingerRoberta Roberta Anne Roberts Risinger Roberta Anne Roberts Risinger, age 85, of Raleigh, NC and formerly of Parkersburg, WV, passed away Thursday, July 5, 2007. She was born August 4, 1921 in Charleston, WV, a daughter of the late Dr. Lakin Fiske and Roberta Anne Reger Roberts. She grew up in Buckhannon, WV and later enrolled at West Virginia Wesleyan College. During her first year there she met her future husband Rev. Melvin Smith Risinger of Moundsville, WV who preceded her in death. They both graduated in 1943. He went to Duke Divinity School and she began her career teaching Physical Education in Weston, WV. They were married June 1, 1946 in her grandfather’s home in Buckhannon. Thus began a life together of service to others through their joint ministry in the United Methodist Churches in the West Virginia Conference. Roberta was an active Participant in every church her husband served. She taught Sunday School most especially enjoying the pre-schoolers, helped with Vacation Bible School, sang alto in the church choirs, and was an instrumental part of the Food Ministry in her husband’s last church in Parkersburg. She loved to garden and shared her “green thumb” with many who were fortunate enough to receive a rose from her garden or a bundle of herbs for cooking. She entertained many guests in the parsonages where she lived using recipes her mother had handed down to her. She will be remembered for her wonderful pies and homemade bread. Painting with watercolors was a hobby Roberta enjoyed in later life using the flowers in her garden as a focus for her canvas. Country churches that she remembered from her childhood was another object of her work. Roberta delighted in listening to and attending opera functions. She was active in the Methodist Minister’s Wives Fellowship of the West Virginia Conference even serving as their President. She was also a fifty-year member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood of which she joined as a student at Wesleyan. She most especially loved children, volunteering at local schools as a tutor to help students with reading. She loved her grandchildren with all her heart planning activities and games making them her priority when they visited together. In addition to her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by a sister Harriet Roberts McChesney and a brother, Dr. Robert Abram Roberts. Surviving are two daughters, Anne Koebley and husband Kevin of Smithfield, NC, and Meg Risinger of Raleigh; a son George Risinger and wife Nikki of Raleigh; five granddaughters, Meghan Koebley, Amy Risinger Cagle, Jessica Risinger Bell, Meredith Koebley and Lenneka DeWitt and two grandsons, David Koebley and Martin DeWitt. The family request that memorial gifts be made to the West Virginia Wesleyan College office of Advancement, General Scholarship Fund, Campus Box, Buckhannon, WV 26201. Funeral services will be held at the First United Methodist Church in Buckhannon on Tuesday, July 10, 2007 at 11:00 AM with the Rev. Ellis Conley officiating. Burial will follow at the Heavner Cemetery in Buckhannon. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.polingstclair.com. Poling-St. Clair Funeral Home are in charge of the arrangements. Funeral Service Tuesday, July 10, 2007 at 11 AM First United Methodist Church Burial Heavner Cemetery