Colleen was born in Dallas on April 2, 1952 to Martin Haldean Jenson and Edna Booth Jenson, both deceased. She is survived by her husband of over 36 years, William George Robb; her children Phillip Jenson Robb and Monica Meghan Robb; her brother Paul Jenson and his wife Gay Jenson; her aunts Dorothy Wells and Charlotte Jenson; her uncles Glenn Booth and Jimmy Jenson; her mother-in-law Mary Eleanor Robb; her brother-in-law John Ralph Robb and his wife Janet Carol Robb; her brother-in-law Robert Aragona; as well as numerous nieces and nephews.
She grew up in Oak Cliff in the Dallas area. Colleen graduated Kimball High School class of 1970. She went on to graduate Rice University in Houston with B.A.s in Sociology and Spanish in 1974. Colleen would later earn her law degree from the University of Houston.
While in her adopted home of Houston, Colleen would meet the love of her life, William ‘Bill’ Robb. The happy couple married in 1978. Their first child, Phillip, followed in 1982. The family found completion in 1985 with the addition of second child, Monica. The family established their home base in Katy, TX in 1987.
A devoted wife, mother and friend, Colleen possessed a strong spirit, a sharp mind and an immense heart. A voracious reader, Colleen excelled at storytelling and conversation. During her time in school, her flair for drama led her to pursue acting. She also honed her argumentative abilities with Speech and Debate. Her love of learning Spanish pushed her to travel throughout Mexico.
Colleen further fed her need for culture and travel when the family followed Bill to Stavanger, Norway for three years in the summer of 1990. They settled among fellow oil company ex-patriots during a boom time in Scandinavia’s petroleum industry. While living with her family in Norway, she was exposed to much of Western Europe. Time within the ex-pat community would allow her to make additional life-long friends of different nationalities. After a time of discovery and growth, they returned to Katy, TX at the end of their assignment and have remained.
Following the family’s return to Texas, Colleen applied herself to work in the banking industry. She worked handling trusts, where her nature to help those in need served her well. After leaving that career, Colleen would often take up the causes of family and friends as needed.
To count Colleen on your side was to know you had an ally who could turn the tide of whatever battle in which she engaged herself.
Colleen loved nothing more than a good old-fashioned battle of wits. Be it over dinner table discussion, or a heated game of Trivial Pursuit, Colleen loved to have her mind tested. She loved learning, and she loved teaching others. She never met a conversation she didn’t like, nor a Scrabble foe she could not best.
To probably best understand Colleen, would be to watch her in the kitchen when she was preparing for a dinner party. A highly-skilled cook, Colleen’s library contained decades’ worth of recipes and knowledge from her life and travels. She shined by showing her love through a delicious meal. Numerous pots and pans would be dirtied to show skill; more food than imagined would be prepared to make sure no one went away hungry. The larger the crowd, the better she could demonstrate her ability to entertain and converse on a grand stage. Controlled chaos never met a ringmaster with such flair or force of will as Colleen Kay Robb.
After dealing with numerous health problems for over a year, on Christmas Day 2014, Colleen was admitted to the hospital for pneumonia. Despite steady initial improvement in her condition, she ultimately developed sepsis. The toll of infection and treatment proved too much. Her lungs and kidneys began to fail. She faded away in her sleep in the early morning hours of Monday, Feb. 9, 2015.
Whether in Dallas, Houston, Stavanger, Katy or any other place in between, Colleen made a lasting impression. To count her as a friend meant having one of the toughest and strongest advocates you could ever imagine. To be blessed with her as a mother meant having a supporter who could give you the power to carry on, even if the task seemed too challenging. To love her as a wife meant traveling this world with your best friend and one of the most dazzling souls to have ever graced this earth.
While the loss of Colleen has happened far earlier than either she, or any of us wanted, we know her pain has ended. We also smile and laugh, knowing that by the time we see her again, she’ll have talked to God and made a few improvements to Heaven. If God would bend to any mortal’s will, it would be hers.
In lieu of flowers, charible contributions can be made in Colleen's memory to the Houston Sheltie Sanctuary.com, mailing address is Houston Sheltie Sanctuary, Inc., PO Box 840235, Houston, TX 77284-0235.
At least, He would if He knew what was good for Him.
"After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure." - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Arrangements under the direction of Earthman Southwest Funeral Home, Stafford, TX.
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