Whitman County Gazette - Serving Whitman County since 1877

Margie Arlene Robertson, lifelong St. John area resident, passed away Saturday, September 5, 2020, at the Community Pride in St. John. She was 83. Graveside services for family and close friends will be Saturday, September 12th, at 1:00 pm in the St. John Cemetery with Pastor Denny Hinds officiating.

Margie was born March 31, 1937, in Malden, Washington, to Jack and Lucy Hopkins Freier. She and her younger brother Bill grew up around St. John where their dad worked for various area farmers. She graduated from St. John High School in 1955. Margie worked in Colfax for a couple of years as a telephone operator and she also worked for the dentist office in St. John briefly. When she was in high school, Margie did an internship at the Lamont Bank of St. John. She had met Richard Dick Robertson while there and eventually the couple married on January 19, 1957.

They made their home in St. John where Dick worked in the family banking business and Margie kept busy as a homemaker and mother. She loved researching family genealogy and had collected books and pages filled with records of her finds. She often took her kids to the library to study the microfilm newspaper archives and was a long-time member of the Whitman County Historical Society. She also tended a beautiful garden, did painting and was a collector of many things. Her family referred to her collections as "organized hoarding".

She volunteered in her community as well, whether delivering the community calendar to folks or as an active Red Cross volunteer. Her favorite times were holiday gatherings with family or getting to spoil the grandkids with Schwan's ice cream treats or frozen pizza. Margie became a "grandma to all" and her house was always full of her grandchildren and many of their friends who loved to tag along. She was the "fun" grandma. Her door was always open and her home quickly became "the place to go". Dick passed away in 1998 and Margie filled her days with visits and gatherings with her family. She has lived at Community Pride for the last five years.

She is survived by her two daughters, Leann (Keith) Hooper of Spokane and Jodi (Carl) Lautenschlager, Endicott; five grandchildren, Danny (Paloma) and Marcus Hooper, Cody (Kaysha), Lucy and Katy Lautenschlager. In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Bill and a nephew, Justin Robertson. The family suggests memorial gifts be made to the St. John EMT's or the St. John Museum. On-line guest book is at http://www.bruningfuneralhome.com

Bruning Funeral Home of Colfax is caring for the family.