Roberta J. Horton

Roberta Horton left us to be with God on Wednesday, October 23rd, 2013. She was born Beverly Jean Clark on May 24th, 1940 in Seattle, Washington to Willis and Dorothea Clark. Throughout her life she was known to her friends and family as Roberta. She and her husband, Paul, have lived in Tucson, Arizona for most of the past twenty years. Roberta had a way of brightening faces and casting sadness to the shadows when she entered a room. Her smile was contagious and genuine. When she was happy, her light, warm, permeating laughter would soon have the world laughing with her. Roberta was Paul's life constant companion, wife, and best friend. She was Mom to her sons, Joel Horton, Michael Horton, and Mark Horton. She was generous, protective, powerful, loving, wise, and made the world a better place in which to live. Roberta was raised as the middle child of missionary parents who spread the ministry to tribal Native Americans of the Western United States, seldom staying in one area more than six months to a year. She became adept at quickly understanding and befriending all that she met. In her late teens, in her quest to serve, she took a job at the Horton Nursing Home in Nampa, Idaho, where she met Paul. She confided in friends that she had met the man she was supposed to marry. Paul was equally smitten by her quick humor, affable personality, and thoughtful, loving care that she gave to infirm residents. Paul and Roberta have been inseparable since they first met and married in 1958. They have traveled, taken various jobs, gone through schooling, raised kids to adulthood, attended weddings and graduations, survived hard times and good times- always together and always committed to each other. They have often said that, even if they were pushing shopping carts through the streets as homeless people, they would be happy- as long as they were together. Roberta is survived by her husband of 55 years of marriage, Paul (Tucson, Arizona); her sons and their wives, Joel Horton and Carolyn Minder (Eagle, Idaho), Michael and Sheila Horton (Copper Center, Alaska), and Mark and Julie Horton (Reno, Nevada); her grandchildren, Sarah Weitz (and husband Konstantin Weitz), Samuel Horton, Joshua Horton, Hannah Horton, and Tobias Horton; and older brother, John Clark (and Connie Clark, Eagle, Idaho), and younger brother, Paul Thomas Clark (and Doris Clark, Lewiston, Idaho). She had many other beloved relatives, too many to name, and had many, many friends through her years in Tucson Estates and her church affiliation. There will be a memorial service to be held at the Tucson Estates Community Center on Monday, October 28 at 3:00 p.m. and officiated by Pastor Lester McSherry. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Nash Elementary School, 515 W. Kelso Street, Tucson, AZ 85705, or Hope House, P.O. Box 550, Marsing, ID 83639.