Bobbie Roth

BARBARA (BOBBIE) ROTH Bobbie Roth, 93, a beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt, friend, world traveler and force of nature, passed away peacefully on January 23, 2019, at her home in Walnut Creek, CA. Bobbie's can-do optimism inspired everyone she met in life and work. Barbara June Cohen was born November 5, 1925, to Marcia and Michael Cohen in Brooklyn, NY, where she attended James Madison High School and Brooklyn College. She moved to Columbia, MO, with her then-husband, George B. Roth, where she graduated from Stephens College. The couple then moved to the Kansas City area in 1946 where they raised their three children, Clifford, Donald and Molly, in Prairie Village and Mission Hills. A long-time member of Kehilath Israel Synagogue, Bobbie was active in many community organizations and instrumental in various causes, including spearheading a successful effort in the 1960s to increase the minimum driving age in Kansas. In the 1970s she co-founded the volunteer-run Westport Free Health Clinic (now called KC CARE Health Center) dedicated to caring for under-served residents. For 25 years Bobbie worked at House of Lloyd in Grandview, MO, where she managed the party plan division. She later became Executive Vice President of the Lloyd Travel division where she organized international trips for the company's incentive travel program. For many years she served on the international board of the Society of Incentive Travel Executives. In her tireless years of creating and leading "trips of a lifetime" to reward several thousands of Lloyd's most dedicated workers each year, she befriended countless people in all walks of life around the world. Together with lifelong friends, colleagues remember her positive energy, infectious spirit, style and wit. In 2000 Bobbie retired and moved to Walnut Creek, CA, to live with her daughter and family. Bobbie was preceded in death by her parents and her son, Donald Roth. She is survived by two children, Clifford Roth of New York and Molly Roth Hamaker and husband Charles Hamaker of Walnut Creek, CA; daughter-in-law Jude Roth of Overland Park, KS; brother Howard Cohen and wife Charlotte of Cedarhurst, NY; seven grandchildren: Dawn, Michael, Alita, Irene and husband Jamil Nelson, Zachary, Noah and Ethan; two great-grandchildren: Francine and Isadora; and nieces Marci Cohen and husband Jon Boka of New York, NY, and Mara Cohen and husband Bruce Smiley of Chappaqua, NY. Cremation is planned with a private memorial in Walnut Creek, CA.