|
Light a Candle
Robin Louise Cornelius Battrick
July 17, 1951 - July 31, 2007
Robin L. Battrick was born July 17, 1951 in Bloomington, Indiana to Virginia Louise Hornberger and Charles Goode. Raised by Virginia and her step-father, Thomas E. Cornelius, Robin always considered Tom to be her true father.
As a child she lived in Arizona and Alaska among several other states before Tom & Ginny, as her parents were affectionately known, settled their family in La Grande, Oregon. Robin loved the mountains and working hard physically to help support her family in those early years. She also excelled in her scholastic abilities - particularly in math and sciences. She graduated from La Grande High School in 1969 as co-valedictorian. She later attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon where she studied Russian among other subjects.
Robin re-connected with fellow classmate Craig J. Battrick, who through his own membership to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints introduced her to a vibrant new world of faith and purpose. Due to her persistent analytical nature and following her background of exposure to varied philosophies and ideologies, Robin embarked on a thorough investigation that led her to answers to important questions which had troubled her much of her life. She had an accute sensitivity to spiritual things as well as impeccable logic, and both of these, along with her willingness to seek for truth with heartfelt prayer contributed to her wholehearted acceptance of the Restoration Story of the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1820s America. After reading "The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ", Robin became powerfully converted to what she felt and would later express in one of her last testimonies was 'the Fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ upon the earth.'
Robin then served a proselytizing mission in Guayaquil, Ecuador for ten months before an illness forced her early return home, but even in that short time she became fluent in Spanish.
Shortly thereafter she was able to court her sweetheart, Craig, who had just returned from serving a similar mission in Tokyo, Japan. They were sealed on February 12, 1974 in the Idaho Falls, Idaho Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for time and all eternity and enjoyed a beautiful marriage established on the principles of true friendship, unconditional love, forgiveness, and hope.
The young couple was poor but resourceful. They started with an antique sewing machine and an old-fashioned typewriter and about 1,200 books between them and they raised their family and pioneered careers together in professional and technical communication.
The Battricks lived in La Grande, John Day, and Pendleton, Oregon before moving to Corvallis on July 1, 1982. Robin attended Oregon State University there before working at Hewlett-Packard where she stayed for 21 years, most recently as a communications manager for a software development division before retiring in July 2005.
During that HP era Craig and Robin moved over a dozen times, working their way from one rental to another until they were able to purchase their first home, and then a hobby farm in the country north of town. This resulted in Robin's excelling at packing. Altough they had longed to settle down in Oregon, they chose to leave that state and establish a retirement farm in Coffey, Missouri in December of 2005.
Once there Robin helped plan and build their unique living space in preparation for a dream-home project she had invested decades of thought and research into. It was around this time she and Craig discovered her terminal illness and had to change their plans.
Robin was valiant in the way she chose to live her last ten months. She underwent numerous therapies and operations in a hope to spend as much time as possible with her family. She continued to focus on serving others and sharing her faith up to what many would consider the end. To her family, who know her best, however, there have been many evidences of her continued involvement in their lives and interests since her passing, and their love for her and testimony of her worth as a person and as a force for good in the world have only grown.
In life Robin was a skilled calligraphist and writer, an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy and an excellent opponent in either chess or Scrabble. She was a gardener and a fan of purple and loved to cook and sew and pursue family history research. The wealth of information she accumulated about her ancestors continues to be highly valued by her family as they continue her work.
Robin may have seemed shy and reserved to many of her acquaintances but to those who knew and loved her best she had a brilliant sense of humor, a deep love and concern for the welfare of others, and a determination to contribute to a better world for her family both temporally and spiritually.
Throughout her life Robin selflessly sacrificed her time, talents, and energy to improve the circumstances of those around her - hers was a living testimony, and we knew her faith by her works.
Robin was preceded in death by her mother, Virginia, and brother, Greg. Since her passing she has been joined beyond the veil of this life by her father, Thomas Cornelius and by her brother, Robert. She is survived by her husband, Craig of Pleasant Grove, Utah; sons, Joseph of Albany, Oregon and Christopher of Pleasant View, Utah, daughter, Samantha of Galt, Missouri; seven granddaughters and one grandson; brothers Michael and Kurt Cornelius of Montana and Thomas of Oregon; and numerous nephews and nieces.
Funeral services were held in Gallatin, Missouri in August of 2007, with burial at Coffey City Cemetery about 100 yards from the property line of her dream farm. Two additional memorial services were held, one in La Grande, Oregon and another in Corvallis, Oregon. All services were conducted by her family and hosted in meetinghouses of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where she had attended and shared her faith with her family and friends.
An account funded by the sales of select book titles from Drift Creek Press was established to help offset medical and funeral expenses. These titles may still be obtained, either by visiting Grassroots Bookstore in downtown Corvallis or via e-mail through Books4Robin@battrick.fastmail.fm.
