Robin F. Deters

1955 - 2016

(News story) Robin F. Deters, who campaigned for causes and candidates as an activist and volunteer, died Oct. 28 in ProMedica Toledo Hospital. She was 61.

She had lung cancer, her family said.

Mrs. Deters, of Point Place, spoke publicly about her pre-existing health conditions for several years before her cancer - as she and her husband signed up for CareNet, a program initiated by the late Toledo Mayor Jack Ford; as she appeared in Columbus to advocate for health insurance mandates in state law.

When the federal Affordable Care Act took effect, Mrs. Deters and her husband were able to get insurance - and she became a health-care outreach worker, speaking to church and community groups about the details of Obamacare.

"She was a very staunch believer in doing the right thing," her sister, Nina Ridgley said.

Her daughter, Jennifer, said: "She definitely was fighting for the working class."

In July, 2015, Mrs. Deters was among 150 people of various religious beliefs who went to a remembrance at Warren African Methodist Episcopal Church in Toledo for the nine people who had been shot and killed at a church in Charleston, S.C.

"It's important that we all know our diversity is what makes us the United States of America," Mrs. Deters said at the event. "We need to eradicate hate. I am horrified that this happened and continues to happen."

During election season, she worked for Democratic candidates. She championed the career of U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo). She supported Hillary Clinton in the 2008 presidential primary and then the party's nominee, Barack Obama. In October, 2008, she introduced former President Bill Clinton, who was campaigning for Mr. Obama, to a cheering throng at Grove Patterson Academy.

"That was one of her crowning achievements," her daughter Jennifer said.

Four years later, Mrs. Deters worked on behalf of Mr. Obama's re-election.

"Any time she did anything, she gave, like the coaches say, 110 percent," said Brenda Hill, chairman of the Lucas County board of elections, who met Mrs. Deters as a 2012 Obama volunteer. "She always smiled and she was full of energy and was enthusiastic."

Until she became ill in August, 2015, Mrs. Deters was a teacher's aide for several years at a school in the Washington Local system, helping pre-school and primary grade students with disabilities. She called them her "littles."

"She has a whole wall of pictures at our house, little pictures they drew for her," her husband, Jack, said.

She was born June, 28, 1955, to Violet and Nathan Forman, and was a 1973 graduate of Whitmer High School. She attended the University of Toledo, her sister said, and then became a bookkeeper for several companies. Their father had been a certified public accountant.

Surviving are her husband, John Deters, her life partner since 1981, whom she married Sept. 23, 1989; daughter, Jennifer Ferrari; sister, Nina Ridgley, and a granddaughter.

A celebration of life gathering will be from 4-9 p.m. Saturday at Delaney's Lounge, 309 W. Alexis Rd. Arrangements are by Newcomer Funeral Home, Northwest Chapel.

The family suggests tributes to Toledo Area Jobs with Justice.

This is a news story by Mark Zaborney. Contact him at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.