Eleanor Arobelle Robson

Eleanor Robson, age 91, Minnetonka and formerly of Marshall, Minnesota, died on Sunday, July 4, 2021, at the Sholom Home West Nursing Home in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Funeral Services are 11:00 a.m. Friday, July 16, 2021, at Grace Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota (Services to be held in the Chapel, please enter door #2 located at 9301 Eden Prairie Road, Eden Prairie, MN, 55347). A reception for attendees will follow, also at the church. Interment will be at a later date in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois, where the great Abraham Lincoln is buried. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service on Friday, from 10:00 a.m. until the time of services at 11:00 a.m. at Grace Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to Grace Church Missions or a Hospice Organization of donor's choice.

Eleanor Arobelle Race was born on January 19, 1930, in Springfield, Illinois, to Alfred and Mildred (Dare) Race. After graduating from Lanphier High School in 1948, she started working at Royal Typewriter Company as a secretary for three years. Then, Eleanor and a girlfriend moved to Inglewood, California, for one year. Eleanor worked for six months as a stenographer in a manufacturing company then the last six months as a secretary at the Mayor's office in Inglewood. Eleanor grew homesick, so she moved back to Springfield and began dating Mr. Mel Jones (Karen and David's father) off and on for years; he had asked her to marry him three times. Finally, in April 1953, they were married at the parsonage of the Third Presbyterian Church of Springfield.

Eleanor spent her first anniversary giving birth to their first son, Stephen Eugene Jones, at the Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, where Mel was stationed as a Staff Sargent. Mel left the Air Force after four years and the family moved back to Springfield, where their only daughter, Karen Sue Jones, was born. About one year later, they moved to Norwalk, Ohio, where their last child, David Brian Jones, was born. From then on, they moved to various cities and states for Mel’s career as a poultry sexer; eight states in all.

Eleanor loved going to movies, which she did starting at age ten and walked 1 1/2 miles to see a movie. She also loved reading, going to the library, listening to music, concerts, and bowling.

After retiring from the State of Illinois in 1992, Eleanor moved to Marshall, Minnesota, to be near Karen, her husband Jim, and the two only grandchildren: Sarah Riley and Rachel Kerzman. One of her favorite things to do was to drive up to Minneapolis with family to go to the Chanhassen Dinner Theater. They had many fond years in Marshall together through homeschool and church activities. One of Karen's fondest was having Mom ride with the girls for time spent behind the wheel for Drivers Education. After her time in Marshall, Eleanor always moved with Karen and Jim and lived with them. Initially, to Texas and then South Dakota and lastly to Minneapolis.

Eleanor is survived by her daughter, Karen (and Jim) Anderson; granddaughter, Sarah (and Ian) Riley; great-grandchildren, Lauren, Owen, and Reagan; granddaughter, Rachel (and Nick) Kerzman; great-grandchildren, Daniel, Lincoln, and Clayton; son, David Jones; a few cousins, other relatives, and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Alfred and Mildred Race; son, Stephen in 2010 from a heart attack; first husband, Mel Jones in 1999, also by a heart attack; her second husband, Ed Robson; and her only brother, Ken and his wife, Delores, in 2019.