Obituary of Roberta Auwarter

Roberta Gedney Auwarter, age 94, passed away peacefully surrounded by family on October 3, 2024 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

The youngest of three daughters of Robert and Ella Gedney, Roberta grew up in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, New York. At age 15, Roberta met her future husband, the late Raymond G. Auwarter, at Franklin K. Lane High School in Brooklyn. In 1950, Roberta and Ray married, settling in Fresh Meadows, Queens. In 1960, they moved to Nassau County, Long Island, where they would reside for nearly 50 years – first in Roslyn Heights and then Brookville. Theirs was a romance and marriage for the ages, their love for each other so evident in all the pictures and videos of their lives together.

Roberta adored children. Her neighbor’s son would visit in the afternoons for “coffee with Berta” and a chat. More than anything, Roberta longed to be a mother, and in the early 1960s, she and Ray welcomed two daughters, Ellen Claire and Julia Anne. In the 1990s, Roberta became a grandmother four times over – and dearly loved each of them; last year, she became a great-grandmother.

Throughout her life, Roberta served her communities – whether local charities or Ray’s newsprint sales business, where she worked as head of investments until Ray retired in the 1990s. She also traveled the world with Ray – Europe, Scandinavia, Canada and inside the U.S.

In 1994, Ray and Roberta, both avid golfers, started building their dream home in Chapel Hill at Governor’s Club. There, they developed a close circle of friends and deepened their love for North Carolina. Roberta and Ray were married for 67 wonderful years before he passed away in 2017.

Roberta was elegant and stylish, a radiant woman with big blue eyes and an engaging smile. She loved dancing with Ray, decorating her homes, laughing with her family, friends and neighbors and eating a lobster very slowly (as her family all finished before she did). A woman of strong will, she greeted each obstacle or adversity with tenacity, resilience and tremendous strength. Roberta was gregarious and charming, smart and quick – and always generous.

As a convert to Catholicism in her youth, Roberta’s faith was especially deep. She was a very committed individual, devoting herself not only to her church, but also to everything else she set her mind to. She was a voracious consumer of information and knowledge. Whether studying Finnish, financial market trends or a medication’s many side effects, she embraced each topic wholeheartedly, learning everything she could about it.

Roberta’s final years were spent at The Cedars’ DuBose Health Center, where she counts many nurses, administrators, health aides and other caregivers as friends and fans who loved her. Ever the fashionable dresser, she once won the DuBose Oscar for “Best Sense of Style.”

Roberta is survived by her two daughters, Ellen Auwarter and Julia Gleason (husband Thomas Gleason), her four grandchildren, Margaret Elsen (wife, Meredith, with her great-grandson Owen Elsen), Emily Gleason (fiancé Carlos Lopez), Charles Gleason (wife, Sally Hosokawa) and Timothy Gleason. Roberta was preceded in death by her husband, Ray Auwarter, and her sisters Ella Mae English and Dorothy Holman.

Funeral and interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations in Roberta Auwarter's name to: 

CaringKind, The Heart of Alzheimer's Caregiving: https://give.caringkindnyc.org/campaign/608574/donate