Roberta Mae Botimer

Roberta Mae Botimer passed away on Tuesday January 7, 2020 under hospice care at Memorial Hospital having fallen and broken her hip on January 1.  She was born on December 10, 1920 and so came within 11 months of making her goal of reaching 100 years old. 

She was born in Berrien Springs Michigan of Arthur and Belle Strickland and was married to Laurence Botimer on September 17 of 1942.  They met each other as he was a chemistry lab instructor and she was a chemistry student at Emanuel Missionary College now Andrews University.  They had a certain “chemistry” and while he was in the military, he got a 3 day pass so he could get married and that chemistry lasted for the rest of their 65 years together.

She was a homemaker all her life and her husband (who died in 2007) pursued his PhD in Chemistry, taught at Washington Missionary College in Washington DC, La Sierra College in California, Caribbean Union College in Trinidad, and the Weimar Institute in California. They moved to Collegedale, Tennessee from Weimar California in 1998 to be close to their daughter and grandchildren.

During her life of raising two children and enjoying her 4 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren she volunteered for the Seventh-day Adventist church as a deaconess, hostess, leader in helping the poor, and teacher of cooking schools.  Most of her life she was a very health conscious vegetarian.

Mrs. Botimer spent the last 7 ½ years of her life in the Southern Oaks Assisted Living Center where she made many friends who wrote the following about her. 

“Roberta Botimer is a witness to all her neighbors, always greeting them with smiles and “hellos”.  She is always trying to think of ways to help and encourage others. She believes that is her God-appointed purpose here at Southern Oaks. As a young girl in academy in Michigan, she was president of her senior class.  As a young married lady, she travelled a lot with her husband and two daughters, was always energetic and very engaging.  She was happily married for 65 years.”

She is survived by her two daughters Laurella Poulson of Battle Creek Michigan and Cynthia Bietz of Nashville Tennessee her four grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.

A graveside service will be held at the Collegedale Cemetery on January 25 at 3:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Southern Adventist University.  https://community.e.southern.edu/pages/give-now

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