Roberta Law Theobald Davison

A most gifted and creative woman, born January 22, 1920 in Delta, Utah, Roberta, at age 94 has left this mortal probation for the wonderful adventure that lies ahead for her. While her many friends who remain, mourn her passing, we know she is having a joyous reunion with her Mother, Father, family and friends that preceded her. She married Leon Carl Theobald just before WWII began and had three children Lynford Leon, Dean Robert and Gloria Joan while living in Delta. Roberta and Leon were sealed in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. In her younger years she loved to dance and wanted to be a famous ballerina. While living in Delta she had a dance school and taught tap and ballet. She wrote many songs, both lyric and music. Poetry was one of her greatest loves and she has written hundreds of poems most of which she could amazingly recite verbatim at any given moment. In the 50s, the family moved to Boise, Idaho. Her creativity exuded in many ways as she became a contest aficionado and entered hundreds of contests that were so popular in that era. She won trips to Hollywood to be on game shows, appliances and a Shetland pony by naming the pony’s mother Stardan. The contest was sponsored by Ardan Dairies and the mare had a bold star on its forehead. She also won a purebred puppy by naming it Fidaho. In the 60’s while working for the Welcome Wagon International organization, she organized and hosted a World Convention in Salt Lake City, which included Linda Bement, the current reigning Miss Universe, a local Salt Lake girl, who attended high school with Roberta’s son, Lynford. While selling real estate in Salt Lake City, she met Elman Merrill Davison (Dave), a man originally from Clarinda, Iowa. They married in 1965 and shortly thereafter moved to Palo Alto, California where they purchased and operated the Cardinal Hotel in downtown Palo Alto. After selling the hotel in 1976, they moved back to Sutherland, Utah and became alfalfa farmers for several years. In the 80’s, Roberta and Dave moved to Oceanside, California. Dave passed in 1993. Roberta’s talents and creativity, now in her 70’s took full bloom. She began ribbon dancing and joined Toastmasters International. One of her dear friends, Richard Overturf, a fellow member of Toastmasters has written most lovingly about our Mother, a Eulogy from his perspective, a brief capsule of her life in Oceanside: Ode to the many arts of Roberta Law Davison One Spring evening in 2000, Roberta came to a Toastmasters club meeting in Oceanside CA. At the meeting we videotaped the speeches given. After the meeting, Roberta asked the videographer if he would video tape her “Ribbon Dance”. On a later day, at a friend’s home, Roberta pulled out batons with red, white and blue ribbons and with a record playing in the background of the “Stars and Stripes Forever” march, she began to dance with grace and vigor, swirling the ribbons around her bobbing and weaving her 80 year old frame for a full 6 minutes. Roberta explained that every year, one of the local high schools staged a salute performance to the veterans of WWII. She was intent on performing at the celebration and wanted the videotape to study how she could improve. Well the day came, and the videographer went with her to the gymnasium where eighteen hundred students were in the stands. When it was Roberta’s turn to perform, she appeared in a dark blue pants suit with a sparkly vest emblazoned with the stars and stripes. Immediately, the restless students focused on her and she danced so gracefully that at the end of her act, a great shout and a standing ovation filled the gym. That was the beginning of many things we would come to learn about Roberta. Truly, she was born to dance! Roberta was an active member of Toastmasters for 7 years in Oceanside. And oh, there were many more of her artistic talents that the members experienced. On one occasion, Roberta taught the group how to conduct an orchestra. She brought a sample recording to the meeting. Then she passed out a chopstick to everyone and made them stand just as a conductor would do. When the music started she told the group, “Raise your baton, and on the beat bring it down triangularly to a position on the right and then to the left and back to the top. One, two, three; one two three!” It was astonishing how she made it so simple. Another time she taught the group the Waltz step. She cleared an area for dance and demonstrated the three steps in time to the music. Within a minute or so all the Toastmasters were gliding around the floor with smiles on their faces. Roberta knew how to make people happy. Family members know of Roberta’s fascination with butterflies. When Roberta established an email address she chose “Butterfly Lady” as her user name. Over the years, Roberta gave Toastmaster members original paintings she had made of the beautiful creatures. They showed off handsomely her graphic arts skills. One must not forget another aspect of Roberta’s sensitivities. Her own speeches to the club were often made up of poetry she had carefully crafted. One poem, “Where Do The Homeless Sleep Tonight?” displayed her ability to evoke compassion for others. Oh yes, people loved Roberta for setting an example of compassion. On the other hand, Roberta was always helping Toastmasters overcome their weak points in speech delivery. She often gave speakers evaluations that emphasized the two essential points that echo back to us years later. She repeatedly admonished “Enunciate and Articulate”. Yes, Roberta was also a great listener, the key to giving effective evaluations. Did you know that Roberta was a stand up comedienne? The tale that is the funniest she ever related revolves around an episode that began when family members were moving to another location. Her grandchildren came to Roberta and asked her to adopt their pet chicken. Roberta told them, “I really don’t think I am a chicken kind of person.” But when she looked around, the chicken was perched on her husband’s shoulder, and was sharing the slice of cake her husband was eating. Thus, the saga of “Brooster the Rooster” began. Roberta wove into a hilarious speech she gave at an area wide Toastmaster Humorous Speech contest the life of “Brooster”. She told how he had his own condo at her home. And because he was amorous, she obtained a life sized chicken doll for his pleasure. The audience burst into prolonged laughter so many times during the speech, that she went over the time limit, denying her the prize she richly deserved. In this eulogy, it would be remiss if Roberta’s faith in God was omitted. Back in 1976, after she recovered from a major surgery, she wrote the musical score and the lyrics for a hymn titled, “O, Let Me Be Worthy”. The hymn was presented at a service celebrating the Bicentennial of the United States. And over the years, memorabilia received by friends on special days always included Roberta’s prayer that the recipients would be granted love and peace by the Heavenly Father. “Blessed are those who are pure in heart, for they will see God,” Matt. 5:8. Roberta is surely in God’s presence today. Roberta passed August 10, 2014 while recovering from a spiral fracture of her right femur at Kootenai Health in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. She had been living in a retirement community near her daughter Joanie since 2008. She is survived by her three children, Lynn, Bob and Joanie and their spouses, Sherrie, Else and Bryan Crabtree, two step daughters from her marriage to Elman Davison, Claudia Ryner (husband Jim) and Linda Wendell, eight grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren with another one on the way. Funeral Services will be held at the Canyon Estates Ward, (LDS chapel) 965 Oakwood Drive, Bountiful, UT 84010 on Tuesday, August 19, 2014. Viewing will be from 9:00-10:00AM, Family Prayer 10:00-10:30AM and the funeral service at 10:30AM. Lunch will be provided by the Canyon Estates Ward Relief Society at 11:45AM. Roberta will be interred alongside her Mother and Father in the family plot at the Delta Cemetery at 3:00PM, Delta, Utah. Funeral Services are under the direction of Bell Tower Funeral Home of Post Falls Idaho.