Mary Lou "Bee" Johnston Roblee of Amherst, Massachusetts, left this world peacefully at home, surrounded by her loving family on December 12, 2025. Bee loved nature, gardening, knitting, writing poetry, camping, people, powwows, watching the horses work out from East Avenue, and especially watching her family grow. She could never say no to a historic house or art museum. She was often found in the audience at Hartford Stage, Westport Country Playhouse, Glimmerglass, and BSO at Tanglewood. Saturday night meant Prairie Home Companion. Favorite travel destinations included Newport, Camden, Pinkham Notch, Santa Fe, and Spain. She appreciated a dip of vanilla and understood the holiness of violets. Her warm and (fun) loving spirit lives on in the hearts of those she touched and in the beauty she saw everywhere. Keep going!
Born April 8, 1942, to Doris (Risch) Johnston and Odell A. D. Johnston, Bee attended Saratoga Springs High School, going on to study at Yale University's Grace-New Haven School of Nursing where she became an R.N. She met her husband, John Roblee, in Middletown, CT, while both were working at Connecticut Valley Hospital. Marrying soon after, they traveled the South while John was in the Air Force then lived in Hyde Park, NY. Bee and John moved to Barkhamsted, CT, where they lived for forty years until they returned to her beloved Saratoga Springs for ten years before coming to Amherst to be closer to their children and families.
Professionally, Bee worked as a floor nurse at the Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, TX, as a nurse assistant training instructor at the Adams House in Torrington, CT, as a nurse counselor at Federation Homes in Bloomfield, CT, and finally as a school nurse for Hartland Elementary School in Hartland, CT. On the side, she co-founded Tait-Roblee Restorations restoring antique china, dolls, baskets, cane chairs, and furniture for collectors, dealers, and museums.
She was a member of the Saratoga Springs' Order of the Eastern Star, co-founder of Friends in Service Helping (FISH) at St. James Episcopal Church in Hyde Park, member of the Heritage Garden Club of Saratoga Springs and, with John, an active board member of Friends of Opera Saratoga.
She is survived by the love of her life of sixty-three years, John Edwin Roblee, Jr; her daughter, Jamie Ellen Gonzalez Roblee of Guadalajara, Spain; her son, John Mark Roblee of Shutesbury, MA; their spouses, Rafael Gonzalez Montejano and Jacqueline A. Strauss; her grandchildren, Alejandro and Elena Gonzalez, Robin and Nickolas Roblee-Strauss; her nephew Garrett Scott Smith; her sister-in-law, Carol (Santo) Johnston, nephew, Odell Johnston, Jr. and niece, Catherine (Johnston) Matto. She was predeceased by her sister, Barbara E. (Johnston) Smith of Glenmont, NY, and brother, Odell Johnston Sr. of Pittsford, VT.
Donations in her memory may be made to Universal Preservation Hall (atuph.org), Opera Saratoga (www.operasaratoga.org), or the charity of your choice.
Born April 8, 1942, to Doris (Risch) Johnston and Odell A. D. Johnston, Bee attended Saratoga Springs High School, going on to study at Yale University's Grace-New Haven School of Nursing where she became an R.N. She met her husband, John Roblee, in Middletown, CT, while both were working at Connecticut Valley Hospital. Marrying soon after, they traveled the South while John was in the Air Force then lived in Hyde Park, NY. Bee and John moved to Barkhamsted, CT, where they lived for forty years until they returned to her beloved Saratoga Springs for ten years before coming to Amherst to be closer to their children and families.
Professionally, Bee worked as a floor nurse at the Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, TX, as a nurse assistant training instructor at the Adams House in Torrington, CT, as a nurse counselor at Federation Homes in Bloomfield, CT, and finally as a school nurse for Hartland Elementary School in Hartland, CT. On the side, she co-founded Tait-Roblee Restorations restoring antique china, dolls, baskets, cane chairs, and furniture for collectors, dealers, and museums.
She was a member of the Saratoga Springs' Order of the Eastern Star, co-founder of Friends in Service Helping (FISH) at St. James Episcopal Church in Hyde Park, member of the Heritage Garden Club of Saratoga Springs and, with John, an active board member of Friends of Opera Saratoga.
She is survived by the love of her life of sixty-three years, John Edwin Roblee, Jr; her daughter, Jamie Ellen Gonzalez Roblee of Guadalajara, Spain; her son, John Mark Roblee of Shutesbury, MA; their spouses, Rafael Gonzalez Montejano and Jacqueline A. Strauss; her grandchildren, Alejandro and Elena Gonzalez, Robin and Nickolas Roblee-Strauss; her nephew Garrett Scott Smith; her sister-in-law, Carol (Santo) Johnston, nephew, Odell Johnston, Jr. and niece, Catherine (Johnston) Matto. She was predeceased by her sister, Barbara E. (Johnston) Smith of Glenmont, NY, and brother, Odell Johnston Sr. of Pittsford, VT.
Donations in her memory may be made to Universal Preservation Hall (atuph.org), Opera Saratoga (www.operasaratoga.org), or the charity of your choice.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Mary Lou "Bee" Johnston Roblee, please visit our flower store.
Mary Lou "Bee" Johnston Roblee's Guestbook
Visits: 77
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the
Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors