Roberts, Louise A. (Acker) 1917-2004

ROBERTS, ACKER, STYKE, SUMNER, MAIDMAN

Posted By: Debbie Nash (email)
Date: 10/5/2004 at 21:43:10

Louise A. Roberts
October 05, 2004

Louise A. Roberts, 86, of Oneonta, N.Y., died Saturday, Oct. 2, 2004, at home after a long battle with cancer.

The funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Friday in First United Presbyterian Church in Oneonta. A private burial will follow at Glenwood Cemetery in Oneonta.

Visitation will be from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Bookhout Funeral Home in Oneonta.

Mrs. Roberts was born Nov. 10, 1917 in Chicago, the daughter of John William and Louise Marie Styke Acker.

She married Millard George Roberts Jan. 6, 1942. He died in Apri, 1989.

She spent her early years in Chicago. After graduating from Lindblom Technical High School in 1934, she attended the University of Chicago, earning bachelor's and master's degrees and a doctorate in American literature in 1947.

She taught undergraduate English courses at the University of Chicago from 1939-1940 and 1942-1948.

In 1947, she was the first woman to receive the distinguished Llewellyn John and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the nation's oldest prize for undergraduate teaching.

In 1955, she moved with her family to Fairfield, where for 12 years she taught English at Parsons College while her husband served as president of the college.

After returning to New York in 1967, Mrs. Roberts joined the English faculties at City College of New York, Hunter College of the City University of New York, The College of Insurance, the State University of New York at Albany and Hartwick College. From 1984 until her resignation Sept. 1, 2004, she taught English and writing at State University of New York at Oneonta. Her teaching career spanned 67 years.

Survivors include four children, Mary Roberts Sumner of Clayton, Mo., Ann Roberts Maidman of New York, Robert North Roberts of Harrisonburg, Va., and Richard Bradford Roberts of Madison, Conn.; seven grandchildren; one great-granddaughter; and three brothers, John Acker of Hinsdale, Ill., Roy Acker of Franklin, Mich., and Ralph Acker of Apple River, Ill.

She was preceded in death by her husband.

Courtesy of the Fairfield Daily Ledger Inc. 2004