Lasting Memories

Judith Delsman Robinson
May 1, 1941-Dec. 25, 2016
Atherton, California

Judith Robinson, at her Atherton home in the presence of her beloved husband of more than 50 years, Walter J. Robinson, and her two cherished daughters, Katherine Delsman Robinson and Anne Wylde Robinson, passed away on Christmas morning. The cause of death was cancer.

Judy was born in 1941 in Seattle, Washington. Along with her dear brother, Alan Delsman, of Brooklyn, New York, she was raised by her parents, Mark and Marjorie Wylde Delsman in West Seattle.

Judy spent leisurely childhood summers in a cabin on Hood Canal, Washington, with her extended family including her dear cousin, Cicely Wylde Oubrerie. Many bullheads were caught and nightly campfires blazed.

She graduated from West Seattle High School with high scholastic honors and from the University of Washington magna cum laude. While studying at the UW as a history and a romance language major, she received several academic honors, including being elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Judy was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority, where she served as scholarship chairman; her nightly plea was for “Quiet hours!” to encourage good study habits among her fellow members. They did earn all-campus scholastic recognition!

Following graduation from the UW, Judy entered graduate school at the University of Florida where she earned an MA in Latin American history.

With her master’s degree in hand, she returned to the UW briefly as a Spanish instructor. The low grades she gave some of the athletes in her class drove her Huskies-loving family crazy.

In December 1964, she married the love of her life, Walter Robinson, another UW grad, who was attending University of Chicago Law School. While residing in Hyde Park in Chicago, Judy taught in a high school and then a middle school in the southern suburbs.

In 1966, when her husband began teaching at Stanford Law School, she began her teaching career at La Entrada Middle School in the Las Lomitas School District, where she taught until the birth of her second daughter in 1978. She lived in Atherton for 45 years where she and her husband happily raised their family.

Judy loved life, her family and friends, literature, travel, the arts, gardening, and Duke basketball. With her husband, she attended the American Conservatory Theater for 49 seasons and the San Francisco Ballet for many years. Judy also was involved with the Contemporary Collectors Circle at Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center.

Reflecting her interests in history and in other cultures, she and her husband took pleasure in planning trips and traveling to many parts of the world.

An involved community volunteer, she was active in the Junior League of Palo Alto and in her daughters’ schools. Judy was co-president of UMA, a student and parent school-wide organization at Menlo-Atherton High School. She tutored freshman students who needed support in their advanced standing classes at that school.

She was a Girl Scouts leader and introduced the Art in Action program to Phillips Brooks School.

As a former English teacher, she was a stickler for grammar and made certain that her children were well versed in the proper use of "I" and "me."

Judy loved her Atherton neighborhood, Lloyden Park, and spearheaded celebrations there including an annual Fourth of July party and Christmas caroling.

The Robinson family thanks Judy’s loving friends for their kind thoughts and deeds during her illness. Their ongoing support was a gift to her and to her family alike.

In addition to her immediate family, Judy is survived by her sons-in-law, Todd Rose of Menlo Park and Kevin Moriarty of Washington, D.C., and her four grandchildren, Caroline Rachel Rose, Lucia Delsman Rose, Charles Robinson Moriarty, and Graham Wylde Moriarty.

She is also survived by her deeply loved brother, Alan Delsman, sisters-in-law Barbara Delsman, Marcia Robinson, Mary Ann Robinson, brother-in-law Dale Robinson, and several dear cousins, nieces, and nephews.

A celebration of Judy’s life will take place at Trinity Episcopal Church, 330 Ravenswood Avenue, Menlo Park at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 19, 2017. A reception will follow at the Menlo Circus Club, 190 Park Lane, Atherton.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made in Judy’s memory to the Judith Delsman Robinson Fund at Stanford Medicine in support of Dr. Jonathan Berek for uterine cancer research. Gifts can be made by check or on-line. Checks must be made payable to Stanford University. Please indicate “The Judith Delsman Robinson Fund” on the memo line. Mail checks to: Stanford University, 3172 Porter Drive, Suite 210, Palo Alto, CA 94304. To make a gift online go to: https://giving.stanford.edu/goto/medgift. Please (1) note on the Special Instructions, “Gift to support Dr. Berek for The Judith Delsman Robinson Fund” and (2) check in “Honor/Memory” and list “Judith Delsman Robinson.”