Barbara Atwell Roberts, 87;
Retired OR Nurse
At Bassett Hospital
RICHFIELD SPRINGS – Barbara Atwell Roberts, 87, formerly of Richfield Springs and a retired operating room nurse at Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, died Feb. 21, 2019, of heart failure at Concord Hospital in Concord, N.H.
She lived at Havenwood Heritage Heights in Concord for the past nine years.
Born May 9, 1931, in Syracuse, Barbara Joan Atwell was the younger daughter of Harold Leon Atwell and Grace Jones Atwell.
Raised in Syracuse, Barbara graduated from Nottingham High School in 1948. She was one of two in her class to receive a scholarship to attend Syracuse University School of Nursing, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in December 1952.
From January 1953 until her marriage to Robert Kemp Jr. on March 30, 1957, Barb worked as a registered nurse at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in New York City. In 1961 they moved to Miami, Fla. In July 1973, their marriage ended and she moved to the Cooperstown area.
For the next 20 years she was employed at Bassett Hospital. She retired from nursing in November 1993.
She married John L. Willsey, a native of the Town of Springfield, on Nov. 1, 1975. With the help of his son, John C. Willsey, they built a log cabin on Willsey Road in Richfield Springs. He died on Oct. 26, 1996.
On Jan. 8, 2000, Barb married Edward H. Roberts at the First Presbyterian Church in Cooperstown, and began 16 full and happy years together. They resided on Mountain View Lake in Sunapee, N.H., and in 2009 moved to Havenwood. Ed died July 5, 2016.
Barbara is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Karen Barbara Kemp and Jeffrey W. Zimmer of Durham, N.C.; two grandchildren, Helen Caitlin Zimmer of Philadelphia, and Ian Karl Zimmer of Charlotte, N.C.; niece, Linda (Fred) Heberling of Holland, Ohio, whom she considered a second daughter; and nephew, Clifford (Marilyn) Weigel of Stryker, Ohio; two grandnephews in Ohio; step-children, Elizabeth (Gregory) Stevens of Chester, N.H., Ying Xia of Concord, N.H. and Jean (Greg) Zeller and John C. Willsey of Richfield Springs and their children; step-grandchildren, Kari Ure and Ty Cook; step-nieces and step-nephews, including Elaine and Michael Gibbons of Quincy, Massachusetts; many cousins, including the extended family of Marion Karl and the late William Karl of Cooperstown; and step-great-grandchildren, and step-great-great-grandchildren.
In addition to her husbands, Barb was predeceased by her son, Carl Robert Kemp, and sister, Jean A. Weigel.
Details on a service at the First Presbyterian Church of Cooperstown will be announced at a later date.
Barbara will be laid to rest alongside her son and her parents, in the Minerva Baptist Church Cemetery.
Arrangements are entrusted to the Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home.