Ingeborg Anna Roberts

Published 4:14 pm Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Ingeborg Anna Roberts passed on May 28, 2018, in Columbus, North Carolina.

Her life was an adventure as a resident of the world. She was an only child, born to the late Paul and Hedwig Petzold on Jan. 17, 1928, in Germany. She endured the war in Hamburg, and for the rest of her life, carried with her many stories of difficulty and personal triumph. 

After the war, she worked as a press and portrait photographer.

In 1950, she married Walter Roberts, an American who became part of the international diplomatic service. As a result, she lived in New York, Cyprus, Ghana, Austria, Washington, D.C., Rome, Italy and Palo Alto, California.

Her life abroad was challenged by civil unrest in Cyprus between the Greek and Turkish populations and in Ghana she assisted with receiving and assisting Americans during the Congo Airlift in 1960. She saw much of the world, with her favorite area being Half Moon Bay, California.   

In Palo Alto, she was a member of the Peninsula Social club that provided welcome services to new neighbors and volunteered at the Terrace Restaurant where proceeds went to the Center for Autism Research. She participated in the “English in Action Partner” program through Stanford University, providing her native German and acquired English language skills to German speaking post-doctorate students’ spouses.

She was passionate about opera, live theater and the symphony. Her garden was an oasis of beauty, and reflected her lifelong love of nature.   

After her husband passed in 1982, she remarried in 1990 to Irving Reichert, a lawyer, who gave her a second wonderful life, being members of the Palo Alto Lawn Bowling Club, traveling to national parks and spending as much time with their grandchildren as possible until his passing in 1997.   

In 2011, she moved to Columbus, North Carolina, living at Tryon Estates to be close to her son and his family.  She was always known as being spunky while at the same time supportive and generous to her many friends, even as her health was failing the past few years.  She enjoyed her 90th birthday recently with many of her family and local friends.

She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Joyce and Tracy Hofeditz of Morrison, Colorado; her son and daughter-in-law, Andrew and Lucy Roberts of Mill Spring, North Carolina; her grandsons, Creighton Hofeditz of Denver, Colorado and Paul Roberts of Fredricksburg, Virginia.

She was predeceased by her firstborn daughter, Barbara Ann Roberts, who lived a precious 11 days.

Memorial services will be held Sunday, June 10, at 3 p.m. at the Tryon Estates, 615 Lake Laurel Drive, Columbus. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made to The Wounded Warrior Project or the Foothills Humane Society of Columbus.