Valarie Kelch Robinson, beloved mother, aunt, and friend to many, died Oct. 6, 2025, in Roanoke, VA, after an adventurous and extraordinary life. She was 86. Valarie is survived by her two children, Lindsay Ailstock of Salem and Evan Robinson of Vinton, her grandson Daniel Garst, and her many nieces and nephews.

Valarie was born on March 28, 1939, in North Reading, Massachusetts. She attended Gould Academy, a high school in Maine, before heading off to the University of Michigan to study Spanish. She spent her junior year studying abroad in Spain through a program with Smith College, an experience that she never forgot and that influenced her life in many ways.

In the Spring of 1961, she graduated from U of M. After teaching Spanish for a short period, she married Edwin S. Robinson in February 1962 and moved to Madison, Wisconsin. When her mother-in-law and father-in-law passed away the following year, Valarie and Ed took in his teenage brother, Rich, who lived with them for two years. In 1964, Valarie gave birth to their daughter, Lindsay, and the family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, where Ed had taken a teaching position.

In 1967, Ed secured a job teaching geology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech), and the family moved east to Blacksburg, Virginia. Valarie gave birth to her son Evan Robinson in 1968. The family moved to Roanoke for several years before relocating to a farm near Catawba, Virginia, where Valarie lived until shortly before her death.

When her children were young, Valarie devoted herself to the cause of improving Special Education in Southwest Virginia and beyond. In the 1980s, Valarie returned to school and obtained a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and then in 1988, a Master's Degree in Mental and Psychological Nursing at the University of Virginia. That was followed by years of working in various capacities as a counselor in Southwest Virginia, including providing services to inmates in local jails.

Through the years, Valarie never lost her devotion to Spanish. She reached out to international students attending Virginia Tech to provide assistance to them and to hone her own skills. Her efforts grew into lasting friendships with students from across the globe. Valarie and Ed were known for their grand Thanksgiving dinners for students and their families, bringing dishes from their own countries to share. Val and Ed also enjoyed traveling internationally to attend weddings and family gatherings of these students in their home countries, including trips to India, Chile, and Colombia.

Always full of energy, Valarie volunteered; she sponsored children in Mexico, sewed handmade birthday and Christmas presents, and was always interested in whatever the people she loved were pursuing. She was a "trail angel" who left cold soda for those hiking the Appalachian Trail near her home. She cared deeply for the well-being of many: neighbors, international students, immigrant children, friends from UVA, and those she met at the Y in Roanoke.

There will be a celebration of life for Valarie and her late husband, Ed, on Sunday, November 2, 2025, at Triple J Farms in Catawba, in the valley they both loved. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to The Special Olympics of Virginia.

https://give.specialolympics.org/page/contribute/virginia19

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