Roberta Studebaker Eby
ROBERTA ELIZABETH STUDEBAKER EBY 10-16-1921 passed from this world peacefully on 9-3-25 at Heritage House a month before her 104 th birthday. She was born and raised by her German Brethren parents Guy and Ella Funderburg Studebaker on a potato farm in New Carlisle Ohio. She was her high school class valedictorian; went to Manchester College and then graduated from Purdue University in 1942.
She and her husband Walter Dale Eby were happily married for x57 years until his passing in 2001. They had x3 children: son Michael Eby and his wife Raye; daughter Mary Ann Walker and her husband Tom: and son Tom Eby and his wife Gater; x7 grandchildren, 14 great grandchildren and a number of great- great grandchildren.
During WWII she worked in a Goodyear aircraft factory in Akron Ohio helping build B-26 Marauder planes for the war effort. Her then new husband Walt joined the Navy after graduating Purdue in mechanical engineering; and they lived in San Francisco where he serviced Pacific fleet submarines at Hunter Point.
After the war they lived in Dayton Ohio, and then Indianapolis Indiana, where Bertie enjoyed her work in the admissions department at Butler University.
She was an active member of Goleta Presbyterian Church since 1980 when she and Walt retired to Goleta. She was a church deacon there, and a pianist/organist/secretary for several churches over many decades.
She worked as a volunteer for many service agencies over the years; including the Red Cross headquarters in San Francisco during WWII; and many Santa Barbara agencies; including homeless shelters and soup kitchens.
Her lifelong interests included playing bridge, cooking, antiques, music, beach combing and women’s basketball, especially Santa Barbara Gauchos and Seattle Storm. She and Walt enjoyed traveling extensively after retirement, including trips to Europe, England, Alaska and New Zealand.
She was loved and respected by many people during her lifetime, and will be sorely missed, but in our hearts forever. May heaven banish all grief.
Special thanks to Heritage House for providing her superb care for the last year of her life, and Goleta Presbyterian Church. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation in her memory to Goleta Presbyterian Church
