Dede Robertson, the spouse of spiritual broadcaster Pat Robertson and a founding board member of the Christian Broadcasting Community, died Tuesday at her residence in Virginia Seaside, the community mentioned in an announcement.
Robertson was 94. The assertion didn’t present her explanation for dying.
Robertson grew to become 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 residing in a roach-infested commune in New York earlier than Pat Robertson purchased a tiny tv station in Virginia that might grow to be the Christian Broadcasting Community.
He later ran for president of america in 1988, along with his spouse campaigning by his facet.
“Mother was the glue that held the Robertson household collectively,” mentioned Gordon Robertson, one among her 4 kids, and the president and CEO 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 obtained her bachelor’s diploma from Ohio State and a grasp’s in nursing from Yale.
Robertson’s future husband was the son of a Southern Baptist, Democratic U.S. senator. Eighteen months after assembly, they ran off to be married by a justice of the peace, realizing that neither household would approve.
Robertson’s husband was serious about politics till he discovered faith, she advised 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 the commune in Bedford-Stuyvesant as a result of Robertson mentioned God had advised him to promote all his possessions and minister to the poor. Robertson advised The AP she was tempted to return to Ohio, “however I noticed that was not what the Lord would have me do … I had promised to remain, so I did.”
Pat Robertson later heard God inform him to purchase the small TV station in Portsmouth, Virginia, which might grow to be a world 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, 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 just a little extra,” she mentioned. “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 advised The AP. “I started to see how necessary what he was doing actually was.”
Robertson mentioned that girls shouldn’t work outdoors the house whereas their kids are younger except they have to. She reared her children and labored as a nursing professor after they went to high school.
She had represented the U.S. on the Inter-American Fee of Ladies, which was established to make sure recognition of girls’s human rights. She additionally served on the board of Regent College, which her husband based.
Pat Robertson mentioned in an announcement that his spouse “was a lady of nice religion, a champion of the gospel, and a exceptional servant of Christ who has left an indelible print on all that she set her hand to throughout her extraordinary life.”
