Roberta “Bobbie” Wheeler, 90, a longtime resident of Great Barrington passed away on January 4, 2015 at Kimball Farms Nursing Care Center in Lenox.
On January 16, 1924, Roberta was the 3rd generation of Wheelers to be born on Hollenbeck Avenue, in Great Barrington, the town that has been home to at least seven generations of the Wheeler family. After attending primary school in Great Barrington, Bobbie attended Northfield Mount Hermon. In 1945, she received a B.A. in English from Brown University (then Pembroke College).
After serving with the American Red Cross, she moved to Daytona Beach, Florida, where she worked, in the early 1950s, for the Daytona Beach News Journal. In 1955, she helped found the Museum of Arts and Sciences. After her marriage to John Mullin ended in divorce, she launched a successful career as a real estate broker.
Although Bobbie loved living and working in Florida, in 1980 she returned to Great Barrington, where she bought and refurbished a 19th-century schoolhouse. She worked for many years as a realtor with Wheeler & Taylor, Inc., and as a volunteer with the Great Barrington Historic District Commission and the Great Barrington Historical Society.
She is survived by her sister Jean Blackmur of Santa Rosa, Calif.; daughter Molly Mullin and granddaughters, Frances and Dorothy Mullin-Saunders of Carrboro, N.C.; her son, Mark Mullin, and granddaughter, Lucy Mullin, of Daytona Beach, Fla.; as well as by many friends and colleagues who miss her intelligence, love of beauty, and musical laughter.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Robert K. Wheeler, and Hazel MacDonald Wheeler; a sister, Margaret Waldron, and a daughter, Patricia Wheeler Mullin.
A memorial service is planned for March in Great Barrington.
Donations in her memory may be made to the Great Barrington Historical Society or to the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach through FINNERTY & STEVENS FUNERAL HOME, 426 Main St., Great Barrington, MA 01230, who is caring for the arrangements. Remembrances may be sent to her family through www.finnertyandstevens.com.
