Frances Delores Evans Baber Robinson

Frances Delores Evans was born on February 14, 1929, to Francis and Celeste Walker Evans, in Greenville, South Carolina. Delores, the name our mom preferred, was their only child. She passed away on November 26, 2010, in Crofton, MD, from dementia. She was 81 years old. During her childhood, the family moved to Washington, DC. They were members of the Greater First Baptist Church, Washington, DC. Delores was educated in the DC Public School System, graduating from Cardoza Senior High in 1946. She attended Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio. She was a very popular student and active in all campus affairs. She was "Miss Wilberforce, 1951-52" and Alpha Phi Alpha's "Sweetheart" at the university. Delores graduated in 1952. Her vision was to be a teacher. While at Wilburforce, she met her first husband Benjamin Schubert Baber, Sr., son of the late Bishop George Wilbur Baber, AME Church. Four children were born from this covenant: Kim, Debra, Benjamin, Jr., and Tracey. After college, Benny and Delores moved to Detroit, Michigan, where they began raising their family. It was here that she began her career as an elementary school teacher. In the early 1960s, Delores and Benny divorced. She and her children moved to the Washington, DC, metropolitan area where they began a new life. She needed a job to support her children so she became a waitress at a Hot Shoppe restaurant. After months of working as a waitress, she was blessed to get a position as an elementary school teacher in the DC Public School System. In the late 1960s, Delores married Walter Robinson, but they later divorced. After she retired from the DC Public School System, she worked in the library at T.C. Williams High School, Alexandria, Virginia. When she retired from there, she moved to Greensboro, NC, for a season, returning to the DC area in 1999, where she lived in Bowie, MD, with her family. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2002. In 2006, her family later moved her to the Crofton Care and Rehabilitation Center, which was better suited to care for her than in the family's home. Delores loved teaching others! In addition to her paid profession as a teacher, she taught people to read and write on her own time as well as mentoring young people. She had lots of hobbies. She loved reading, writing poetry, gardening, cooking for her family. She was fly and classy! She loved fashion, shopping, and going to the theater. She also loved music and singing with her beautiful, smooth alto voice. Click the links below to listen to some of Delores's poetry, recorded in her voice not long before she stopped speaking due to the Alzheimer's: Soaring Homeward Bound Nobody Does It Like God Does I Am Here Delores was not perfect, but she loved the Lord Jesus Christ who is perfect, her family, and others. She worked so very hard to support her children, doing the best she could. She was awesome! Delores's only son Benjy died on July 12, 1991, of AIDS complications. She took care of Benjy to the end of his life, never deserting him because of the disease. Benjy became ill with HIV during the early years of the pandemic when the stigma was strong, even against family members. Delores knew that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Dolores is survived by her daughters Kim, Debra, and Tracey, grandchildren Kristine, Denette, and Kamille, great-grandchildren Tiara, Barry, Asia and, Kayla, great-great-grandson Elijah Jacob, son-in-laws James and Michael, and a host of relatives and friends. Delores believed in God's only begotten Son Jesus the Christ and His promise that to be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord! ----------------------------------------------- Poems 2004 Frances D. Robinson. All rights reserved.