Roberta Ille, 85, Inver Grove Heights

Roberta A. Ille, 85, of Inver Grove Heights, passed away peacefully on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, at Inver Glen Senior Living in Inver Grove Heights, where she had been a resident for the past 11 months.

Roberta Ann was born Oct. 21, 1939, in Austin to Florence Svobodny. She was raised by her mother Florence “Flossie” in Austin, attended school there and graduated from Austin HS in 1957. She took a typing course and was employed as a secretary at St. Olaf Hospital in Austin.

Roberta was married on June 6, 1958 at the First Lutheran Church in Blooming Prairie to Robert D. Ille. Bob and Bert, as she liked to be called, lived in four towns after their marriage. Their first house was an old schoolhouse in Blooming Prairie, that they remodeled and where they began raising their three children. Bob and his brother Harvey owned the Hardware Hank Store in Blooming Prairie and continued to manage the Ille Family Farm. In 1976, Bob and Bert became partners and bought the Hardware Hank Store in Chatfield. Bert did all of the bookkeeping and helped with half the ordering. They had a beautiful home in Chatfield and their three daughters also got to work at the store - the girls “loved" dusting and eating popcorn.

In 1996, Bert and Bob decided to retire and moved to a house on the Mississippi River in Wabasha, where they enjoyed boating, fishing and the beautiful scenery there. They began spending their winters in Mission, Texas in a retirement community, where they made many friends playing cards and enjoyed swimming and shopping trips to Mexico.

Roberta was a past member of First Lutheran Church in Blooming Prairie and Chatfield Lutheran Church and taught Sunday School. After moving to Stewartville in 2017 to live near their daughters, they attended services at Zion Lutheran Church. Bert and Bob were members of the Center for Active Adults in Stewartville while living there, making many friends. Bob died on Oct. 17, 2023.

Bert was a Brownie Leader when her daughters belonged. She moved to Inver Glen Senior Living, one mile from her daughter Nancy and her family and loved living there. She was their Welcome Wagon Lady and loved spending time with the kids at the pre-school there. The staff at Inver Glen admired her “spunk” and she took advantage of their many activities – boat outings, shopping, listening to live music, bingo and playing cards. Bert was involved – from raising funds for new park equipment, writing letters to POTUS and helping others in need. She was a strong woman with a heart of gold and loved to laugh. She had many hobbies including ceramics, rosemaling, refinishing furniture, painting and coloring and

flower gardens. Bert loved time spent with her family, especially her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Roberta is survived by three daughters – Laura (David) Pettey of Stewartville; Nancy (Patrick) Loew of Inver Grove Heights and Sherri (Keith) Jorgensen of Stewartville; seven grandchildren- Nicholas (Kera) Pettey, Adam (Heather) Pettey, Brady (Yuliia) Loew, Joshua (Kayla) Loew, Annabelle Jorgensen, Jack Jorgensen and Oscar Jorgensen; 12 great grandchildren– Hayden, Pablo, Zoe, Aris, Drake, Ashton, Loomis, Trinity, Allie, Eomen, Avery and Caleb.

She was preceded in death by her husband Bob, her parents and sister, Kathleen Donda.

The memorial service for Roberta will be at 11 a.m. on Thursday, March 20, 2025, at Zion Lutheran Church in Stewartville with Rev. Tim Bowman officiating. Burial will follow at Woodlawn Cemetery in Stewartville. A time of visitation for family and friends will be held one hour prior to the service at Zion Lutheran Church.

Arrangements are with Griffin Gray Funeral Home in Stewartville. Memories and condolences of Roberta are welcome at www.griffin-gray.com.