Eleanor Robb Obituary

Eleanor J. (Hogan) Robb died peacefully in her Fort Collins, Colorado home on January 16, 2017, in the company of loving family members, both present and in spirit. Age 93, she suffered from congestive heart failure prior to her death, but retained her strong, independent, and determined spirit up until her very last hours.

Eleanor was born in Durango, Colorado on March 23, 1923 as the fifth child of Charles and Georgie Hogan, founders of Main Avenue's long-lived Hogan's Store. Growing up in the mountain outdoors, Eleanor graduated from Durango High School in 1940, and married her high school sweetheart William (Bill) Robb in 1946, after he returned safely from U.S. Air Force service in WWII. Following a brief stint in Cambridge, Massachusetts where Bill earned an architectural degree at MIT, and another at University of Colorado in Boulder, the couple settled in Ft. Collins to raise a family of six children and build an award-winning architectural firm, where Eleanor was fondly known as the "Founding Mother."

Active in St. Joseph Catholic Church, various bridge groups, and organizations like P.E.O. and Girl Scouts, Eleanor invested the best of her essence into her family. Known for her expert bread and roll baking, keen financial sense, lively humor and unparalleled ability (as one son-in-law put it) to "direct traffic," Eleanor remained a strong presence in her children's lives long into their adulthood. After the death of her husband in 1999, she rebuilt a life that included a growing clan of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and such joys as the morning newspaper, a Grand Slam in bridge, any kind of social gathering, and an abiding Catholic faith.

When such a dynamic presence is gone from the world, it leaves a void, and yet those she left behind need only look around - at each other - to find her once again.

Survivors include brother G. Michael (Mickey) Hogan, and sister-in-law Betty Gale Hogan, of Durango; son Bruce Robb of Houston; daughter Susan (and husband Dave) Dobkins of Cortez, Colorado; daughter Chris (and husband Gary) Goold of Durango; daughters Cindi Monroe, and Pam (and husband Dan)Downing of Fort Collins, Colorado; and daughter Joanne (and husband Tom) Staats of Brookline, Vermont; as well as 11 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, and a large band of nieces, nephews and their offspring.

A funeral mass will be held at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Fort Collins, Colorado on January 27 at 2:00 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to: Pathways Hospice, 305 Carpenter Road, Fort Collins, CO 80526 (phone, 970-663-3500).