Lisa D. Robbins

Lisa DeGray Robbins, 82, maiden name Eliza DiPilato, died September 18th at the home of her daughter in Clarkdale, Arizona. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, June 13th, 1921, Lisa and her two younger sisters were raised in their parent\u0027s native land of Italy until she was the age of 12, when the family permanently returned to the United States through Ellis Island in 1934. It was then they had to master English as a second language. Her working days began as a hairdresser, following the footsteps of her father, who owned and operated a Barbershop in Springfield, Massachusetts for many years. During World War II, she was proud to be among the patriotic women who left other jobs to work in a machine shop making weapons. It was there she lost the tip of her right index finger in an accident. In later years she delighted in making up and telling stories about how she lost that fingertip. She was one of the many afflicted with Polio in the late 1940\u0027s and she was one of the lucky ones who walked out of the hospital without braces after receiving the Sister Kenney treatments. A great number of family members relocated from the East to the West Coast US, where she began a career in the health care field. She started in a little drug store; became a Nurse\u0027s Aid providing direct patient care in hospitals; then trained as Ward Clerk in Surgery where she worked for 18 years, through the Memorial Hospitals Association in both Ceres and Modesto, California. She was always known as \u0027\u0027Lisa\u0027\u0027 with her beautiful smiling eyes - while gowned in surgical scrubs. Lisa loved people and loved to make them feel important , because they were important to her. Lisa was either working, cooking, square-dancing, or taking care of her beloved grandchildren. She did not slow down, she returned to school to learn sign language in order to reassure those who could not hear or speak once they entered the Surgical Suite. She volunteered at United Cerebral Palsy in Modesto, where she taught sign language, and she carried this interest into playing with her grandchildren. When her 18 year old grandson suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury from a Motor Vehicle Accident, it was with sign language that he made first communication with family after nearly one year of coma. Lisa was preceded in death by her parents, Luca and Anna DiPilato of Bari, Italy, long time residents of Springfield, Massachusetts and Fresno, California; and her sister, Olga Tahsler. She is survived by her sister, Rita Lionark in Huntington, Massachusetts, and two daughters, Ann Spears of Modesto, California and Olga Morris of Clarkdale. She considered many her extended family, including the Colvins in Cottonwood. She had five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, whom she loved very much. Memorial Services were held in the home of her daughter in Arizona. Donations may be made to the Alzheimer\u0027s Research and Treatment (Alzheimers Association, 225 Grove Ave., Suite B, Prescott, AZ 86301). Her smiling eyes and generous heart will be missed by many family and friends that have been saying goodbye to the Lisa they knew for several years. Westcott Funeral Home was entrusted with these arrangaments.