Roberta Phipps

Our Mom and Mimi, Lillian Roberta Phipps, left this life for the next journey on September 25, 2025, just two months short of her 86th birthday, leaving behind a legacy of love and tenacity that live on in those around her.

Roberta was born on November 25, 1939, the fifth child and only daughter of Gurvis Adeline "Addie" DeBose Carlisle and Lorenzo Temple "Dutch" Carlisle, Sr. in rural Williamson County, Illinois. She was spoiled and adored by her four older brothers, Bill, Frank, L.T., Jr., and Ben.

When the Great Depression was ending and the United States entry into WWII forced her parents to head to Chicago to seek employment, Roberta stayed behind in the care of her grandparents, Wells and Nelia Cornwalls DeBose, who she affectionately called Ma and Pa Bosey.

When four-year-old Roberta cried after being left at home when her brothers went back to school, the teacher kindly offered to let her come and sit in the class. She ended up doing the work with the rest of the kids.  In that small, county school classroom, she found a remarkable love for learning and ended up graduating Johnston City High School in 1956 at the age of 16.

The following year on December 8, 1957, she married the love of her life, Jimmy Clinton Phipps, and joined him in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she worked at NORAD, while Jim served his country in the United States Army. The couple returned to Johnston City in 1959, where Roberta found employment at the Department of Children and Family Services, while Jim worked as a carpenter, a Federal Corrections officer at the Marion Federal prison, and founded his own MFA Insurance Agency, which Roberta helped him to operate. She also became a "big sister" to Jim's baby sister, Linda, taking her and her friends on adventures and hosting sleepovers. Roberta happily became a stay-at-home mom with the birth of their first daughter, Holly, in 1963, followed by a second daughter, April, in 1967.  She was a favorite among the neighborhood kids, making homemade popsicles, cookies, and candy, and organizing games and picnics. Not one to be idle, Roberta used her sewing talents and with the help of her mother-in-law, Helen, and her Ma Bosey, she made many of the outfits worn by her daughters, also creating dozens of beautiful Barbie clothes for her daughters. The family enjoyed community activities and especially loved their annual vacations, usually "out west" where Roberta enjoyed teaching her daughters about the wonders they visited like Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park, Flintstone Village, Pike's Peak, and Mount Rushmore.

Their idyllic life was shattered in 1972 when Jim was killed by a drunk driver on his way home from work. Roberta, surrounded by a network of family and friends, showed her daughters how to handle whatever life would throw at them and come away winners.  At the age of 33, she went back to school, eventually earning a Ph.D. in Reading from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and became an educator in the Johnston City schools, teaching third grade, then Title I Reading, and eventually introducing the innovative and successful Reading Recovery program for the next 20 years. During this time, she continued taking her daughters on adventures including Walt Disney World where they were able to meet the iconic Brenda Lee, to Arkansas with her in-laws to visit friends, have fun at Dogpatch USA, and go trout fishing, and even spending a summer traveling through Europe.

Roberta lived life on her terms.  She was strong-willed, intelligent, and generous with her time and talents.  She continued traveling around the globe, volunteered for school and community activities, was an avid Johnston City Indians fan, holding season basketball tickets for over 40 years, and helped with her kids' 4-H club.  She loved hosting holiday gatherings for family and friends and in time, opened her home to a host of international students and their families, creating lifelong friendships with people from China, South Africa, Colombia, Italy, and Australia. She loved learning about other cultures, especially Native American cultures, and made special friends from the Lakota Sioux Tribe in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. She was fascinated with genealogy and was writing a book about her family's role in colonial America, a book her family hopes to finish. Roberta was a true "lifelong learner."

Roberta loved sharing her knowledge, recounting her many adventures, and especially enjoyed supporting her kids, grandkids, and great grandkids in everything from little league ball games, to concerts, to graduations, and New York City theater. Her humble beginnings taught her the importance of "paying it forward," a view that she carried in her political ideology and practiced in her personal life to her final day.

Roberta was preceded in death by her high school sweetheart and love of her life, Jimmy Clinton Phipps, her grandparents, Wells and Nelia Cornwalls DeBose, Benjamin and Nora Bird Price Carlisle, her parents Gurvis Adeline DeBose and Lorenzo Temple "Dutch" Carlisle, four brothers, Bill Carlisle, Frank Carlisle, L.T. Carlisle, Jr., and Ben Carlisle, two special sisters-in-law, Billie Carlisle and Dolly Carlisle, a brother-in-law, Lewie Miles, a niece, Jera Williford, and two nephews, Johnny Carlisle and Douglas Carlisle.

Left to cherish her memory are two daughters, Holly (Roger) Kee, April (Chris) Phipps, five grandchildren, Adam Kee, Kaitie (Justin) Done, Maegan (Matt) Halveland, Kristen (Zack) Mifflin, and Jordan Kee, three great grandchildren, Hudson Done, Millie Schneider, and Johnny Roberts, one brother-in-law, Darrell Phipps, two sisters-in-law, Linda Miles and Clancy Carlisle, a special niece, Heather (Kevin) Williams, a special nephew, Jimmy (Jane) Carlisle, dozens of nieces, nephews, cousins, and special friends, plus hundreds of "her" students who learned not only how to read, but to love reading.

A Celebration of Life will be held on October 19, 2025 at Murman & Wilson Funeral Home in Johnston City beginning at 11 a.m. Following a remembrance at 1 p.m., Roberta's urn will be placed with her beloved Jim at Lakeview Cemetery.  Murman & Wilson is tasked with handling the arrangements.

In lieu of flowers, Roberta's family asks that her educational legacy be continued through donations to either the Johnston City Public Library or S.I. Reads/The Dolly Parton Imagination Library.  Donations will be accepted at the funeral home or a direct donation link to DPIL can be found at https://sicommfdn.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=2716. The family will also have a basket where friends and family can drop off new or gently-used books that will be distributed to kids in need at area shelters and learning centers.