Fanny Robinson Diggs

Fanny R.H. "Robbie" Diggs

Fanny Robinson Hoxton "Robbie" Diggs, 94, died peacefully at her home in Rosewood Village in Charlottesville, on Saturday, May 29, 2010.

She was born on April 22, 1916, in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Llewellyn Griffith Hoxton, professor of physics at University of Virginia, and Helen Grayson Jones, originally of Orange County, Virginia.

Raised in Charlottesville, she attended St. Margaret's School, Class of 1933, in Tappahannock, Virginia, and Bryn Mawr College, Class of 1938-1939, near Philadelphia, where she developed a lifelong interest in history, politics and government. She spent her entire life in the world of education, starting in the home of her father, a well-known professor who served as chair of the University of Virginia Physics Department for 32 years, 1916 until 1948, and then with her husband, Bernard James "Bill" Diggs, a professor of philosophy at the University of Illinois for 35 years and a Scholar in Residence at the University of Virginia until he passed away in 2003.

She met Bill Diggs when he was studying at University of Virginia in the 1930's. They were married in December 1942, just before he spent three years with the United States Marine Corps in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II.

In 1947, she accompanied him to Champaign-Urbana Illinois, where he pursued a university teaching career, and she raised two children, daughter, Anne Marie Diggs and son, Llewellyn Hoxton Diggs, cultivating in them a deep respect for the value of education and learning. She was loving, wise, humorous, intuitive, very generous and known for her dry Southern wit. Robbie was a great human being who will be sorely missed by all around.

In 1984, Robbie and Bill returned to her native and beloved Charlottesville.

She is survived by her loving daughter, Anne; hwe son, Lew; daughter-in-law, Elise Groulx-Diggs; and grandchildren; Laurence-Philippe, Catherine and Alexandra.

The entire family expresses deep gratitude to her caregivers at Hospice of the Piemont and Rosewood Village for the excellent and humane care that she received in recent years.

A reception will held at Hill and Wood Funeral Home in Charlottesville from 4:30 until 7:30 Friday, June 4, 2010.

Funeral arrangements will be announced separately, at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Alzheimer's Association, 1160 Pepsi Place, Suite 360, Charlottesville, VA 22901. .Friends may send condolences to the family at www.hillandwood.com.


This obituary was originally published in the Daily Progress.