Obituary of Michele Roberts Jenkins

Michele Roberts Jenkins passed away suddenly on March 25, 2021 in Melbourne, Florida.  She was 77 although many who knew her thought she was much younger due to her long devotion to a healthy lifestyle. That her physical heart failed was painfully ironic given the enormous strength of her figurative heart.

 

Michele was born February 11, 1944 in Durham, NC to Robert A Roberts and Irene Hill Roberts. Michele came into this world during her father’s service in WWII and thus began the childhood of an “Army brat”. She and her younger brother, Bob Andy, lived in NC, OK, AL, GA, IL, Washington DC and finally in London where she finished high school at Bushy Park Central High – a school for children of American military families.

 

She attended MacMurray College in Illinois for one year before transferring to Auburn University in Alabama where both sides of her family had deep roots. While at Auburn she married Eric Yost and gave birth to her only child, Gretchen.

 

She moved with her young family to Melbourne, Florida in 1966 and was soon challenged to survive on her own as a single mom. She accepted an assembly line position at Radiation Inc.  and quickly moved into other roles as her strengths were discovered and her skills improved. In 1973 she married Bill Jenkins and they moved to Tampa.

 

Michele seized the opportunity to finish her education and graduated in 1974 from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. The second marriage ended and she once again devoted herself to the role of single mom raising a young daughter.  She worked as a professional for a few Tampa companies always defining herself by her ethics and beliefs rather than her job title.

 

During those Tampa years, she met and married Bob Mahoney and their love has endured and strengthened over their 46 years together. They moved to Palm Bay in 1984 where they both worked for Harris Corporation and where Bob is currently an L3Harris Director.

 

Michele enjoyed 26 years of retirement but was in no way idle. She was fiercely devoted to those in her inner circle of family and friends and was an activist for causes she deeply believed in. Animal welfare was her greatest passion and she celebrated all actions that led to the alleviation of their suffering. One of Michele’s defining attributes was a steadfast aversion to people or animals being dismissed as not of equal value. In many ways, she championed the marginalized. Michele couldn’t abide in a world where the strong hurt the weak, where the bullies ruled the schoolyard, or where the powerful rigged the rules.  An avid reader, Michele worked to balance the convenient history she was taught as a child with the realities of today. This enabled her to lend her voice to the needs for criminal justice reform, voting rights, reproductive rights, and the elimination of racism.

 

 

Michele always referred to herself as an introvert, preferring the company of cats, but all who met her were completely charmed by her grace and effortless ability to make you feel like the most interesting person in the world. She was always humble and kind with an easy way about her. She believed in prompt thank you notes and birthday cards with handwritten sentiments that took time to construct in order to affect the most warmth. Everything she did, she did with care. She never cut corners on tasks, the responsibilities of friendship or showing her love. Michele is survived by her husband, Bob Mahoney, and her daughter Gretchen Yost and son-in-law, Norman Doggett of La Puebla, NM. Her cats - Duma, Julius, Peepers, and Buddy - will miss her devotion, and neighborhood backyard raccoons will miss her soft voice as she chatted with them over meals of scattered peanuts. In memory of Michele, a fund has been set up to help feral cats via TNR and to assist in the foster care of neonate orphaned kittens at the animal shelter where her daughter Gretchen is a veterinarian:  Espanola Humane, 108 Hamm Parkway, Espanola, NM 87532 - www.espanolahumane.org