I am sad to announce the death of my son's mother and my former wife, Mary L Robison

Thanks to all of you for your love and support throughout my former wife and Cubby's mother Mary Robison 's recent illness. She died peacefully with Cubby holding her hand yesterday afternoon at Mass General Hospital in Boston.

I know many of you were following her on Facebook and there were more visitors than I could count this past month in Boston. She had friends everywhere, and I don't know how to reach all of then (you).  Consequently, I would like to share the memorial arrangements with you here.

A Mass will be held on Friday March 28, 2014 at 10:00 AM at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Chapel at the Newman Center, UMASS Amherst, with Fr. Gary Daley, Common Director officiating, followed by a reception in the Quigley Room at the same location.

This is the church where she was married and where Cubby was christened, and the Quigley Room is named for the late Fr. Quigley, the priest who was a friend to us in those years long ago.

A private burial will be in West Cemetery, Granby. There are no calling hours.

In lieu of flowers Mary asks that you make a donation in her name to the Dr Mary L Robison scholarship endowment at the University of Massachusetts. Look below for details on that, or bring a check made out to UMASS Amherst to the service. I hope to see you Friday for one last goodbye and a celebration of her life after.

If you can't come to the service and want to make a donation in her name, go to the Umass Giving page below, and do the following.

In the designation box choose "college of social behavioral sciences"

In options for your gift, choose "I want to dedicate this gift" and enter "Dr Mary L Robison anthropology scholarship endowment"

You can give whatever you choose, and your contribution is fully tax deductible. Just be sure to dedicate it for her so her fund gets credit. Her fund needs to gather $28000 to become a permanent endowment and I'm committed to making that happen, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your help.

https://www.umass.edu/development/give/

Goodbye to Little Bear. We are all so sad. I so wish she was still here with us

Her formal obituary is below.

Mary Lee Trompke Robison, Ph.D.  died March 24, 2014, from complications of leukemia at Mass General Hospital in Boston.  She was born in Holyoke on December 17, 1957, to Marjorie Trompke Graham and Edward Trompke. Mary attended Granby elementary schools and graduated from Amherst Regional High School. She received her AA from Holyoke Community College, in addition to a BA, MA, and Ph.D. from UMass Amherst.  

Mary did field work for her master’s thesis at Historic Deerfield and for her doctoral dissertation at Museo Na Bolom in San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico. She was formerly married to John Elder Robison of Amherst, with whom she had one son, Jack. 

Mary was an inventor, building specialty electronics for rock bands including Kiss and Pink Floyd. She was a founder of the science fiction convention Arisia, where she showcased her abilities as an avid costumer and seamstress. A born educator, she was a founding member of the Western Massachusetts hacker space movement and taught at UMass Amherst, Holyoke Community College, Salter College, and the Springfield Renaissance School. She enjoyed trivia and was a successful contestant on "Who wants to be a Millionaire?” in 2005. 

She is survived by her beloved son, Jack Robison, her mother, Marjorie Graham of Pace, FL, sister, Karen Trompke of Pensacola, FL, brother Edward Trompke of Lake Oswego, Oregon, and many cousins, friends, and former students.  Mary climbed pyramids, read a library's worth of books, and was dearly loved by friends and family. She will be sorely missed.