The death last school year of Roberta “Bobbie” Womack, longtime Middle School librarian, saddened everyone in the Darlington community and inspired several of her former colleagues to set up a memorial fund in her honor. Monies will be used to purchase books for the new Middle School library.
“Bobbie Womack was one of the most caring people you could ever hope to meet. She gave so much of herself to the faculty and students in the Middle School,” said Jim Van Es, Middle School principal. “She always had a smile on her face and readily shared it with others. She was as fine a person as I have ever known – because of her heart, her commitment to her family, her strong work ethic and for being the type of woman that was a role-model for all of us to emulate.”
Womack began doing volunteer work for Darlington in the mid 1970s, while her children, Hubert “Hu” (’85) and Edley (’89), attended the Lower School. According to Lola Bradshaw, Lower School science and math teacher, “Bobbie would drive her children [and other children from Cartersville] to school and just stay at the School, helping out in the library or wherever she was needed. When the kids reached Middle School, she did the same thing for Middle and Upper School libraries. She was a lovely lady who devoted her time and days to our School.”
Eventually, George Dorsey retired as Middle School librarian, and Womack replaced him. At that time, the library was a trailer out behind the Middle School. Later, she assisted in planning and setting up the new Middle School library. “She told me about drawing a floor plan and cutting out pieces of paper, like the bookcases, and spending time placing them on the floor plan … all made to scale,” said LaVance Atkins, Middle School librarian from 1988 until her retirement this year. “She really did a great job. I just walked into a beautiful new library that was in great order and all organized.”
Nancy Ivester, Middle School English teacher, described Womack kind and thoughtful. “When Bobbie started at the Middle School, I was teaching seventh grade civics and eighth grade English,” recalled Ivester. “All I had to do was mention some topic that I was teaching, and the next thing I knew she had collected all kinds of resources for me to use in the classroom. She would go through the Middle and Upper School libraries, as well as Sara Hightower Library, and even brought me things she had at home.”
Former colleague Jodi Barton, retired Middle and Upper School math teacher, recalled another example of Womack’s generosity. “When I was at the Middle School, we had very little furniture in the Teachers’ Lounge, and it was old and in poor condition,” she said. “Bobbie went to Rich’s in Atlanta and bought a room full of furniture that was very nice and is still being used today. She didn’t want to advertise that she did things like buy the furniture, so she did many things anonymously.”
Womack’s good deeds extended out into the community as well. “Because she was so thoughtful and kind to others, and because our kids had so much, she decided that our students needed to do more for the less fortunate,” said Ivester. During her years at the Middle School, Womack began the annual tradition of hosting a Christmas party for Rebecca Blaylock Nursery School. “Middle Schoolers brought wrapped gifts, and we all went up to the cafeteria, where Santa came and refreshments were served,” said Ivester. “I really think our students thought of this event as the highlight of the year.”
Womack also coordinated an Easter egg hunt for the nursery school children, another event that has been held annually ever since. Womack continued her work at the Middle School until her retirement in 1988, after which Atkins took her place as librarian and oversaw the planning of these Christmas and Easter events.
“One thing that always impressed me [about Bobbie] was how she was so interested in each student and what he or she read,” said Ivester. “Many times I heard her say to a student, ‘I remember how much you liked Hatchet, look at this book and see what you think. I really think you would like it.’ The student always did.”
The fact that Womack remembered each student’s reading interests impressed Ivester so much that one day she asked about it. “She confided in me that she kept notes on each student and what he or she liked,” said Ivester. “That was especially good for the students who didn’t like to read. She did a lot to get them to love books as much as she did.”
Womack, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in the late 1980s, passed away April 26, 2004, at the age of 64, after the cancer returned. “She lived at least five years after the doctors thought she could not, because she never gave up and was always looking for a new treatment to try,” said Ivester. “She was a fighter, and wanted to live to see grandchildren born. Edley and [her husband] Tim had two children, a boy and a girl. They were the joy of Bobbie’s life.”
Womack is survived by her husband, Bobby, of Cartersville, Ga., and her children, Hu Womack, of Winston-Salem, N.C., and Edley Womack Ortman, of Atlanta.
“It is a rare experience to know an individual who affirms the positive values you were introduced to in childhood,” said Van Es. “You sometimes wonder if they really work, and then you encounter a woman like Bobbie Womack and see the success she had as a person, living her life with balance and honor, and then you know it is possible. She was the real thing. Her example in my life will continue to be bright and shining.”
To contribute to the Roberta “Bobbie” Womack Memorial Fund, please send donations to the Office of Institutional Advancement, Darlington School, 1014 Cave Spring Road, Rome, GA, 30161-4700, or call Sandra Barker at 706-802-4373 to make your gift over the phone. Checks should be made payable to Darlington School and designated in memory of Bobbie Womack.
