Betty J. Robertson

Betty Jones Robertson died peacefully in the Compass Hospice facility in Centerville, MD, on Saturday morning, August 29, 2015. During her final ten days, she was visited and comforted by her daughters, Sherry Ann Dayton and Joanie Jenkins and their husbands, Ned and Harry. She was preceded in death by her husband, Sherry Robertson, former major league baseball player and Vice President of Minor League Operations for the Minnesota Twins, and son, James (Jimbo) Robertson, a former partner in The Loon Café, Minneapolis, MN. Betty was born on October 4, 1921, in Washington, DC, the daughter of Thomas and Ann Sheridan Jones. Thomas was the manager of The Willard Hotel. She was an outstanding athlete at Roosevelt High School, in swimming, softball, and basketball in which she earned the nickname, “Dribbler Jones.” Upon graduation, she went to work for the F.B.I. in their fingerprinting department and laboratory and wrote crime reports. Betty married the “love of her life,” Sherry, between games of a doubleheader in Greensboro, NC, while he was playing for the Charlotte Hornets. She was only 19. She raised her family in Silver Spring, MD, before moving to Minneapolis in 1961, when the Washington Senators became the Minnesota Twins. She quickly became involved in her new community. She volunteered at Fairview Southdale Hospital and joined the Minikahda Club, where she played golf and bridge. Widowed at 48 years of age, she held strict Christian beliefs which gave her strength and courage throughout the balance of her life as a widow. She was wonderfully independent, yet dedicated to her family and many friends. Whenever she walked into a room, she “lit it up." In the early 70’s, Betty bought a condominium in The Village Spires in Vero Beach, FL, where she resided for eight months each year. She loved her golf, bridge, and weekly fried chicken dinners at the Vero Beach Country Club, where she was Chair of the “9 Holers” well into her 80’s. Three years ago, she returned full-time to her roots in Maryland where she lived until her death. Betty is survived by her daughters, Sherry Ann Dayton (Ned) and Joanie Jenkins (Harry); five grandchildren Wendy Sidley, Franz Jevne, IV, Harry Jenkins, IV, Liz Park, and Sherry Ann DeRose; three step-grandchildren (Chris Dayton, Martha Dayton, and Michael Dayton); eight great-grandchildren; and seven step great-grandchildren. All of them called her GG, an acronym for “Gorgeous Grammy.” Donations remembering Betty can be made to The Boys and Girls Club of Indian River County, 1729 17th Avenue, Vero Beach, FL 32963 or Compass Regional Hospice, 255 Comet Drive, Centerville, MD 21617. A memorial service will be held on Friday, September 25 in the chapel at Lakewood Cemetery at 4 o’clock in the afternoon.

Betty J. Robertson

October 4, 1921 - August 29, 2015