PAT ROBERTS

January 16, 1930 – July 28, 2025 Slipped away peacefully and quietly at 95, in Kingston. Like one of the Millidge family's wooden sailing ships, proudly built on the Kennebecasis in Saint John, New Brunswick, now sailing off to somewhere far away in another world. Of deep and tenacious Maritime roots, raised in Cornwall and St. Catharines, Ontario, before going to Havergal in Toronto (Class of '48), and on to Trinity College at the University of Toronto (Class of '52), for a degree in Art and Archaeology, then off to Montreal in pursuit of its incomparable joie de vivre and style. Pat met then married Ian Roberts in Montreal in 1954, and built a treasured life with a young family there, before returning to Toronto in 1971. Excelling in so many ways as Ian's closest partner through the founding of Ian Roberts Inc., Pat planned countless social events, most of them hosted at "Glengowan," Pat's home of 50 years, which she curated with flourish, abundance, great care, and much love. Pat also took on planning and hosting numerous functions from coast to coast in connection with Ian's wide-ranging community involvements across the country. Pat's own friends were found in many circles, at the Musee des Beaux Arts and the Junior League in Montreal, then as a Junior League sustainer in Toronto, a volunteer with the Royal Ontario Museum, an accomplished gardener and a long-time member of the Garden Club of Toronto, and through playing tennis at the B & R and the Granite Club until the age of 80, when tennis foursomes became bridge foursomes, often playing at Rosedale Golf Club. Predeceased suddenly by Ian in 1986, Pat doubled down and filled her calendar with watercolour painting, gardening, tennis and bridge. It was those engagements and ever-widening circles of friends, sometimes overlapping, sometimes expanding, that nourished Pat, who was on her own for nearly another 40 years. Always keeping the home fires tended and burning, a nightly fire warmed the oak-panelled den at Glengowan all winter long. Books and more books were stashed on horizontal surfaces in so many places. Sunshine poured in through leaded glass windows, casting rays of blue and yellow across cosy wool rugs. A home full of early Quebec and Ontario pine, smelling of Antiquax polish. Objets d'art tucked in deftly. Wrought iron railings inside and out bedecked at the holidays with cedar garland and thick red velvet ribbon. Always homemade cookies in tall glass jars on the kitchen counter, waiting for grandchildren to enjoy. A second stairway from behind the kitchen all the way up to the slanted ceilings of the third floor for them to play chase. A playroom with old wicker baskets of well-loved wooden toys downstairs. Pat set the stage for so many fond memories in those she welcomed to her home. There, Pat shared companionship and traits of temperament with a 65-year-long string of comical and stubborn, yet much-loved, dachshunds, along with several beloved stray cats who "just had to fit in." All of them peeking from behind two enormous eastern white pines out front. Mother of Andrew (Barbara), of St. Andrews by-the-Sea, New Brunswick, and Kingston, Ontario, and Tim, of Seguin Falls, Ontario. Grandma Pat to Hugh (Isabelle Moore-Roberts), and great-granddaughter, Vivian, of Kingston, Ontario, Neil (Kate Carbone), of Seattle, Washington, Brendan (Katey White), and great-grandson, Kaedan, of Ajax, Ontario, and Conor (Shantal Koop), of Barrie, Ontario. With enormous appreciation and abundant thanks to a caregiver team led by and centred around Angeles "Ellen" Viernes and Mary-Anne Talosig, who were at Pat's side during her last five years. They cherished Pat, and Pat cherished them. Cremation, followed by a gathering of immediate family in the autumn, at Woodlawn Cemetery, Cornwall, Ontario.