Obituary: Gladys S. Robbins

Gladys S. Robbins, 91, of Prescott, Arizona, passed away on June 30, 2015, surrounded by family and friends. Born in West Hoboken, New Jersey, as Gladys Lila Sachs, on May 17, 1924, to Harry and Esther Sachs, she married Nat P. Robbins on April 16, 1943.

Gladys attended Richmond Hill High School in Queens, New York and received her RN from Brooklyn Jewish Hospital. After moving to Arizona in 1957, she attended Arizona State University and earned a BS in Nursing, an MA in Counseling and an MS in Administration and Management of Nursing and Health Care.

During the WWII years and after, Gladys worked in NY hospitals in medical-surgical and obstetric units as staff nurse, head nurse and hospital supervisor. She held several positions at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, including faculty in the School of Nursing, Clinical Supervisor and Assistant Director of Nursing Services. She later moved to Maryvale Samaritan Hospital as Executive Director and then Assistant Administrator of Nursing Services.

Gladys was an instructor at Phoenix College in the Nursing Department for several years and eventually took a position with the Arizona Department of Health Services in the area of long-term care. She was a member of many organizations including Phi Kappa Phi national honor society, Sigma Theta Tau National Honor Society for nursing, the American Nurses Association, and the National League for Nursing.

Lest you think Gladys was all work and no play, while her children were young, she was a scout den mother and day camp nurse, and religious school secretary. She loved to garden, both in her yard and on her sunporch. She was a voracious reader, and after her eyesight failed, she turned to recorded books for the blind. Her home cooking was a comfort to many, in particular the huge pots of soup. She designed an A-frame cabin in the woods, as well as the house she and Nat built in Prescott. Gladys camped and hiked with her family all over Arizona and the US. After moving to Prescott in the early 1990s, she became active as a volunteer with Disabled American Veterans Chapter 16 Auxiliary. She loved her pets and was known to counsel friends and family, as well as welcoming them into her home.

Her husband Nat preceded her in death. She is survived by daughter Jean Sweeney; son Bennett Robbins; granddaughter Jill Workman; great-grandson Devin Workman; and sister-in-law Mimi Robbins.

A niche side service will reunite her with Nat at 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 22, 2015, at the Prescott National Cemetery in Prescott. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to Good Samaritan Society-Prescott Hospice, Marley House.

Funeral services were entrusted to Wakelin Family Funeral Homes. Please visit www.ruffnerwakelin.com to view and sign Gladys' guestbook and for directions.

Information provided by survivors.