Submitted by: Dan Rich

Rowena Robinson

Oct. 21, 1917 - Feb. 8, 2008

South Bend Tribune 2/10/2008
SOUTH BEND - Rowena Robinson, 90, formerly of Club Drive, South Bend, passed away Friday, February 8, 2008, in the Healthwin Specialized Care Facility. Rowena was born on October 21, 1917, in Continental, Ohio, to the late Leroy Clifford and Sabra (Harris) Rau.

On December 25, 1937, she married Jack Edward Robinson in the parsonage of First Christian Church of South Bend by Rev. Elmer Ward Cole. Her husband preceded her in death on July 30, 1984. Rowena was formerly employed at the Bungalow Pie Shop, Robertson's, the South Bend Community School Corporation, Indiana Bell Telephone, Crown Realty, House of Fabrics, the McCaffery Electric Company and Marian Hill. She loved reading, sewing, cooking, needle point, and dancing to the music of the 1930s and 1940s. Rowena had needlepoint displayed at the Indiana State Fair. She even taught sewing in the South Bend Community School Corporation Adult Education Program. She was a member of First Baptist Church of South Bend and a member of Eastern Star. She graduated from Mishawaka High School, attended IUSB, and received a degree from Thomas Lighting School in Chicago. In her spare time she volunteered for the American Heart Fund and Marian Hill.

Rowena is survived by her loving family: her daughter, Sue Ann Ciesiolka, and her husband, Norbert of New Carlisle; her son, Jon Robinson, and his wife, Joyce of Osceola; three grandchildren, Jeff Robinson and his wife, Susan of Dowagiac, MI, Jill Chestnutt and her husband, Todd of Mishawaka, and Cindy Sue Ciesiolka of New Carlisle; four great-grandchildren; and her sister-in-law, Betty Lou Wood of Spring Valley, CA.