Obituary

Alice Gay Ashworth Robinson was born in Farmville, Virginia, on September 1, 1938, to Richard Neil and Pattie Louise Gough Ashworth.

Gay spent her early years in Dillwyn, Virginia until the family moved to Appomattox, where she completed her schooling. At a young age, Gay excelled in music, playing piano in her band and organ at church. She attended Longwood College and earned a degree in education. With a lifelong curiosity for people and cultures, she spent her college summers as a camp counselor in New York and cherished time in New York City, soaking in its vibrant arts and music scene.

After college, Gay began her teaching career in Alexandria, Virginia. While living in the Washington, D.C. area, she met her husband, Army Captain Ronald Leon Robinson. They married in July 1964. The couple and their daughters lived in Heidelberg, Germany, for four years. While there, Gay traveled extensively throughout Europe—her favorite destinations being the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, and seeing the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris. Her time abroad also sparked her love of gourmet cooking.

Upon returning to Chesterfield, Virginia, Gay resumed teaching—a career that brought her immense fulfillment. She was deeply devoted to her students and her teacher colleagues, many of whom became lifelong friends. Her passion was literacy, and she earned her Master of Education degree with a concentration in reading. Gay served as a reading specialist during the final years of her teaching career, and, in retirement, she continued tutoring youth and adults in reading and writing.

Gay was a respected leader in her profession, serving as president of her teaching sorority, the Kappa Chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa, and of the Richmond Area Reading Council. In 1998, she was invited to visit Campinas, Brazil, to train reading teachers in an American school. Gay volunteered for many years as a writing instructor at the Shepherd’s Center of Chesterfield and founded “Books for Babies,” a reading program for new mothers.

Gay was an avid storyteller who lovingly captured memories of her childhood in Dillwyn, Virginia. She often wrote about her many aunts, uncles, and cousins who lived in Sprouse’s Corner and Danville, Virginia, and in later years, she became the family historian—documenting their stories and photos in detailed scrapbooks.

Her interests were broad and vibrant—opera, art, poetry, writing, music, scrapbooking, cooking, genealogy, and history. But nothing brought her greater joy than her family. She was deeply proud of her daughters, Jennifer McQueary and Stephanie Peters; sons-in-law, Jeff McQueary and Jesse Peters; and grandchildren, Benjamin (Meaghan), Daniel, and Rachel McQueary, and Willem Peters. She is also survived by her sisters-in-law Phyllis Ashworth of Wytheville, Virginia, and Karen Hilty (Gerry) and brother-in-law Gary Robinson (Joanne) of Decatur, Indiana, and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Lois Jane Simms, and her brother Thomas Edward Ashworth.

In Gay’s memory, the family welcomes donations to an art, music, or literacy organization of your choice.

A visitation will be held on Tuesday, June 24 from 3–6 p.m. at Morrissett Funeral Home at 6500 Iron Bridge Road, Richmond, VA 23234. Gay will be privately laid to rest beside her father at Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery in Appomattox, VA.