Naomi D. Roberts was born Emma Naomi Dunthorn on April 21, 1928, on her parents' homestead in Alberta, Canada, to Esther White Dunthorn of New York and Emerson Dunthorn of New Jersey. Her parents then moved to Eden, Idaho, where she was raised. She graduated from Eden High School in 1946 and then attended the College of Idaho, where she met her husband, Harold B. Roberts. They were married in 1947 for 57 years, before he passed away in 2005. Harold B. Roberts, Jr., was born in 1951, and Cynthia D. Roberts was born in 1954. As the wife of an Air Force band commander and conductor, Naomi loved the life of an Air Force wife, including the tour of the Philippines in the late 1960s. She visited every state in the union and 10 countries. As an Air Force wife, she taught Sunday school, worked overseas as a Red Cross volunteer and was active in Scouting, along with being active in the Officer's Wives Clubs. Upon her husband's retirement from the Air Force in 1970, she spent the remainder of her life in Idaho Falls (45 years), where the two of them enjoyed fishing and attending the concerts in town, Salt Lake City and the Grand Teton Music Festival. She also took up painting and did crafts. She belonged to Town & Country Extension and helped found a Tuesday bridge club. She planted a garden every year and loved spending time in it and loved to walk and hike. Not long after her 80th birthday, she hiked to the top of Mount Bald (9500 feet) with friends. She loved entertaining throughout her life, hosting music notables such as William Vacchiano, Leonard B. Smith and William Bell as well as friends and family. She would turn an everyday lunch or dinner into something special with her excellent cooking and beautifully set table and used her crafting skills to make special occasions more special. She is survived by her son, Harold B. Roberts, Jr., and his wife, Kathleen Roberts of Rigby, and her daughter, Cynthia D. Roberts, and her husband, Rodney J. Hayward of Auburn, Wash. She is also survived by two sisters, Jessica Conway of Pennsylvania and Dee Stevenson of Boise, Idaho, and her brother, Lawrence Dunthorn of Hazelton, Idaho. She was preceded in death by her husband, Harold B. Roberts; her parents, Emerson and Esther Dunthorn; her sister, Eleanor Chase; her brother, Henry Norton Dunthorn; and her grandson, Andrew Blaine Roberts, as well. Naomi passed away Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015, of complications due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.)

A viewing for family and friends will be held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, at Buck-Miller-Hann Funeral Home, 825 E. 17th St., in Idaho Falls.



Online condolences may be left at www.buckmillerhann.com.



Published in Post Register Oct. 23, 2015