Joanne Robe

JOANNE ROBE

Cedar Rapids

Joanne (Brennan) Robe, 85, formerly of Cedar Rapids, passed away peacefully into the arms of Jesus on May 14, 2016, at St. Paul's Retirement Home in South Bend, Ind. Funeral Mass: 10 a.m. Saturday, May 28, at All Saints Catholic Church in Cedar Rapids. A visitation will take place one hour before services, with a rosary service beginning at 8:30 a.m. Entombment: Cedar Memorial Park Cemetery.

Joanne was born Nov. 14, 1930, in Bemidji, Minn., to Walter and Bertha Brennan. On Oct. 27, 1952, she married John Leo Robe. They shared their lives for 58 years until John's death in 2010.

A young son, Andrew, and brother, Tom, also preceded her in death.

Joanne is survived by her brother, William; a sister, Mary Lou; her six children, Joel (Carol), Susan (Ronald) Murdock, Bernard (Diane), Mary (Tim) McAleer, Matthew (Vanessa) and Monica (Brian) Smith; nine grandchildren, Nicholas, Brian, Andrea, Adam, Brandon, Christopher, Kristian, Peter and Joseph; and two great-grandchildren, Miles and Claire.

One of Joanne's great passions and gifts was her art. She began sketching when she was young. She took classes and participated in art exhibitions well into her 70s. She was well known throughout the neighborhood for painting Christmas scenes on the windows every year and drew many portraits for friends around town to earn extra money for her children's education.

Joanne also had a love for children. She and John fostered many children overs the years and sponsored countless children through ChildFund International. She never tired of tending to her children's needs. She made sack lunches for her children every day, mended clothes so they could be handed down to younger siblings, and managed to get her children where they needed to go with just one family car.

Joanne also was a great lover of nature. She loved to garden and had a sizable vegetable garden every year. Because of this she was able to can enough vegetables to feed her family through the winter. She would often coerce her children into helping her pick wild berries so that she could make jam.

Joanne enjoyed watching and feeding the birds, and at one time could identify many birdcalls and even imitate them. John built several large bird feeders and she made her own suet so that she could feed the birds year-round.

Camping was one of her favorite activities to enjoy with her family. She and John traveled with their children to many state parks throughout the Midwest. If she wasn't cooking meals on a camp stove or washing dishing, she could be found floating on the lake where she surely found her peace and quiet!

Joanne was very active in the Catholic Church throughout her life. One of her favorite devotions was the rosary and, although her dementia worsened over the past year, she still was able to recite her beloved prayer on the day she passed away. Joanne and John lived their faith daily through their sacrifices to their children and their love and kindness to all those they met. Fostering this faith in their children was of utmost importance to them.

At the end of her life, Joanne endured much suffering, but as always, never complained. She was a true servant of God and she finished the race well, with true humility and grace.

She will be greatly missed by her family and friends.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be made to ChildFund International. Contributions may be made to ChildFund International in memory of Joanne Robe for Project No. 2858.

Online condolences may be directed to the family at www.cedarmemorial.com under Obituaries.