Dede Robertson, the spouse of non secular broadcaster Pat Robertson and a founding board member of the Christian Broadcasting Community, died Tuesday at her residence in Virginia Seashore, Va., the community stated in an announcement.
Robertson, who died Tuesday, was 94. The assertion didn’t present a reason for dying.
Robertson turned a born-again Christian a number of months after her husband discovered his religion. The couple, who met at Yale College in 1952, launched into a journey that included dwelling in a roach-infested commune in New York earlier than Pat Robertson purchased a tiny tv station in Virginia that may change into the Christian Broadcasting Community.
He later ran for president in 1988, along with his spouse campaigning by his aspect.
“Mother was the glue that held the Robertson household collectively,” stated Gordon Robertson, one of many couple’s 4 kids and the president and chief government of CBN. “She was at all times working behind the scenes. If it weren’t for Mother, there wouldn’t be a CBN.”
Adelia “Dede” Elmer was born in Columbus, Ohio, to middle-class Catholic Republicans. She bought her bachelor’s diploma from Ohio State and a grasp’s in nursing from Yale.
Eighteen months after she met Robertson, the son of a Southern Baptist and Democratic U.S. senator, they ran off to be married by a justice of the peace, realizing that neither household would approve.
Pat Robertson was enthusiastic about politics till he discovered faith, she instructed the Related Press in 1987. He shocked her by pouring out their liquor, tearing a nude print off the wall and declaring he had discovered the Lord.
They moved into a commune in New York’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood as a result of Robertson stated God had instructed him to promote all his possessions and minister to the poor. Dede Robertson instructed the AP she was tempted to return to Ohio, “however I spotted that was not what the Lord would have me do … I had promised to remain, so I did.”
Pat Robertson stated God later instructed him to purchase the small TV station in Portsmouth, Va., which might change into a worldwide spiritual broadcasting community. He ran the community’s flagship program, the “700 Membership,” for half a century earlier than stepping down final fall.
In her autobiography, Dede Robertson recalled bridling at staying at residence and her husband’s refusal to assist round the home.
“I used to be a Northerner, and Northern males simply usually assist round the home a bit of extra,” she stated. “I observed the additional south we moved, the much less he did.”
Her perspective modified after she had her personal born-again expertise at a church service, she stated. “I started to see how vital what he was doing actually was.”
Pat Robertson preached that ladies mustn’t work outdoors the house whereas their kids had been nonetheless younger until they have to. Dede reared their youngsters and labored as a nursing professor after they went to high school.
She represented the U.S. on the Inter-American Fee of Ladies, which was established to make sure recognition of ladies’s rights. She additionally served on the board of Regent College, a non-public Christian college that her husband based.
Pat Robertson stated in an announcement that his spouse “was a lady of nice religion, a champion of the gospel, and a outstanding servant of Christ who has left an indelible print on all that she set her hand to throughout her extraordinary life.”
