Linda Dee Roberts

How do you summarize up someone's entire life in a few short sentences? Partly, you do it by remembering the essence of the person and what they stood for. You will never cover all of the nuances and never know ALL about them, but this is a short story about the life of an extraordinary person.
Linda Dee (Laswell) Roberts came into this world bottom first on October 18, 1941. She was born to Anne E. (Alton) and William H. Laswell at the old Independence Sanitarium for a cost of $100 (the cost was a bit more because she was a breech). Linda, the blonde-haired apple of her, pop's eye, grew up in Independence, attending elementary, junior high, and high school here, graduating-from William
Chrisman High School in 1959. She then went on to Central Missouri State College, graduating with a Bachelor's in Elementary Education. Her first teaching position was at Courtney School, where she taught a combined 5th/6th grade classroom. She loved it there (well, except for the snakes that liked to "visit" the school) and remembered all of her students with great love and affection. She went on to teach in Independence Public Schools at Oldham Elementary, then as a Reading Specialist (after receiving her Master's degree from UMKC), and finally, at William Southern Elementary. For the most part, she taught first grade. She firmly believed in starting children off on the right foot — as evidenced by her username of "docreadwell" - and was always considered excellent in her teaching and relationships with her students and families.
During this time, she married and had a daughter. When her then-husband was transferred to Oklahoma City, she left her parents, her teaching, and her friends behind in Independence for a new adventure. While the family lived in OKC, she volunteered for many worthwhile causes and organizations, along with drawing beautiful portraits and animal pictures. From there, the family moved to Spring, Texas (just outside of Houston). There, she worked in her husband's office at
Safeway Stores, Inc., in the Non-Foods/Variety Merchandising office and then in the Advertising office where she could explore and use her vast creativity. When she left Safeway, she moved on to Exxon to work in the Alaska Pipeline Division, working in the maps department.
When she and her husband divorced, she "came back home" to live temporarily with her parents. This so-called "temporary" plan became permanent. She explored working as a teacher or reading specialist again, but decided to take a giant leap and go for her PhD. During the time she was working on her PhD at the University of Kansas, she also worked for the Kansas City Kansas Public School District as a School Psychologist. She served there for almost 20 years. She was a tireless advocate for the children, their families, the teachers, and school-level administrators working diligently for the best outcome for everyone. Her dissertation was one that Harvard University used for one of their studies, as it was so well constructed and written. "Doc", as she was known, never rode a high horse, only pulling out the "Doctor" card whenever someone needed to be reminded of that. Otherwise, she was just the high-heel-wearing, suits-only-dress-down-day-being-a-pantsuit-wearing, earring-and makeup-wearing-even-to-do-yardwork person who always carried herself with the utmost grace and dignity. She expected excellence from everyone and would work to help you find what your "excellence" was.
Linda began piano lessons when she was a small child and was considered a prodigy. She played the piano throughout her lifetime and also picked up other instruments along the way, including the bass guitar and the upright bass (even though she was only 5' 4"). She had a great love of music, especially Mozart and Bach; however, she also loved The Beatles, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Flatt & Scruggs, and a whole host of other musicians across many genres.

She read voraciously. Her political hero, besides FDR, was Winston Churchill. She read all she could about both of these men. '"Fluff" books were not what she considered fun to read; political tomes, biographies, and more serious books were more to her taste (but only if the work was well-cited with a thorough bibliography). She was reading up until the last week of her life.
Her pop made sure that she was able to do things for herself that were not necessarily considered "girly" things. She knew the different types of tools and how to use them, how to effect basic home repairs, and how to find the right people for the job. Her mother treasured Linda's independence, having been a rather independent woman herself. Linda had two great teachers in her parents. Her politics were always evolving. She grew up in a Progressive household with both parents allowing her to explore who she was as a person and always teaching her about doing for the greater good. Although she did change her political stripe while she was married, she returned to her roots and became an Old School Progressive, å la FDR. Her mother, especially, would have been proud.
She was a Chiefs fan and absolutely ABHORED the Oakland Raiders (for reference, see Ben Davidson spearing Len Dawson in the kidneys). Later, she added the Denver Broncos to the list. People always thought her to be so very genteel, but if they could have seen her cheering for 't her" Chiefs, they would have seen more of the real Linda. She would watch Royals games to honor her mother, especially on Sundays, when her mother always had the baseball game on and loved listening to the games on the radio.
She was an animal lover and advocate from way back (except for the aforementioned snakes) and had many dogs over the course of her life. Her favorite dog breed seemed to be Boxers, as she had 10 of them in her lifetime. She also learned to love cats and rescued so very many. As far as cats went, Thoroughbred Alley Cats seemed to find her. Her pop taught all of us that, "if you have a gotta take care of it," whether that be a house, kid, car, dog, cat, or whatever. She lived by those words.
For ethical reasons, she became a vegetarian starting in 1992 and was heading toward becoming vegan.

A sharper lady
Never have I seen
Such arresting presence
In such a gentle being

And, man, does this lady
Know her stuff
Her wisdom alone
Enough to rebuff

The wannabes
And fakers
Walking in excellence
Requiring the makers

Of the rules
Make sense and choose
What's right for right's sake
She paid her dues

And sure as hell
Earned the nickname
Of Doc Readwell

Because she was and is
And forever will the generations tell
Of the kind gentlelady,
The Doctor, the Queen Who changed our lives and now rests well
- LaTanya Kurney
She leaves to mourn her passing her daughter, Anne Dee, and all her four-legged grand-fuzzwads, the rescued Boxers, Anella and Albert, and the rescued felines, Madeline, Eleanor Elizabeth, Amelia Snugglebunnyrabbit, and the two newest siblings, Betram and Clementine. She was preceded in death by her parents, her childhood terriers, and many, many Boxers and felines.
Sleep well, Mom. You've earned your rest.