Barbara Parker ‘Dene’ Roberts

April 13, 2022

Barbara Parker “Dene” Roberts, died peacefully on April 13, 2022, in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Known to all as Dene, she was born in 1926 in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, to Paul Hepworth Parker, M.D. and Della Simmons Parker. She graduated from Vassar College in 1947 and studied art and French at the Sorbonne.

She married John R. “Jack” Roberts, also from Jenkintown, with whom she made an extraordinary team until his death in 2012. They spent most of their married life in Crawfordsville, where they raised their children and contributed to the community in many ways.

One of the pillars of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Crawfordsville, she is known to have extinguished two fires during church services. Additionally she put out fires of various sorts while caring for her family, their friends, pets and many strangers. She was an accomplished artist in several media, had a private decoupage studio and taught art and French in the public schools.

She was admired by many for her grace, her wit, her keen intelligence and her sourdough bread. She and Jack moved to Brookhaven at Lexington in 2005.

She is survived by her five children, John Roberts of Tucson, Arizon, Paul Roberts of Seattle, Washington, Chuck Roberts of Yorkville, Illinois, Libby Roberts of Brookline, Massachusetts and George Roberts of Wellington, Colorado; her brother, George Parker of Houston, Texas; nine grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

A family burial will be held at Abington Friends Meeting in the summer.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her name to The Brookhaven Employee Scholarship Fund. Checks can be made out to: “Brookhaven at Lexington” with “Employee Scholarship Fund” in memo.