Roberta Caroline Grubb

Funeral Services for Roberta will be held at the Dugan-Kramer Funeral Chapel on Saturday, October 24, 2026, at 10:00 A.M. Interment will follow at the Fairview Cemetery in Scottsbluff.

In lieu of flowers, the family is suggesting donations to either the American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org) or the American Diabetes Association (www.diabetes.org). Online condolences may be left at www.dugankramer.com to be compiled into a Life Remembered Book for the family.

Roberta Grubb, known to all as Bert or Nana, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Friday, October 9th, 2026, at the age of 83.

Born in Philadelphia, Roberta was the only child of Frank and Elizabeth Vance, and she was their pride and joy. An intelligent and inquisitive little girl, she developed an immediate attachment to books and a lifelong love of reading and writing. She also played with a little boy on her street named Petey. Remember this little fellow because he is significant later.

Her father died suddenly when she was a teenager, and Roberta struggled to get along with the strange man who later married her mother. Her stepfather was known to history only as “Maggotfruit,” Roberta’s derisive nickname, and her stories of him did not paint a favorable picture. She delighted in antagonizing him and was not broken-hearted when he ultimately left the household.

Roberta attended Penn State University and studied English. While there, her friends set her up on a blind date with a young man two years her junior, whose friends were familiar with Roberta’s, and they all thought it would be funny to get the two together since all agreed they were likely to despise one another. The young man in question was Paul D. Grubb, sometimes referred to as “PD” to distinguish him from his father with the same name. To their friends’ surprise, Paul and Bert (as he called her) fell for one another and were married in 1968. The little boy she played with as a young girl would be her husband for 53 years until his death in 2021.

The couple spent time in Michigan and with his family in Pennsylvania before settling in Wyoming. After a short stint as cattle ranchers in Cody, they moved to Powell, where Bert became a columnist for the local paper, the Tribune. She covered local news in the area, drove to regular board and business meetings around the Big Horn Basin to report on them, and even had a weekly personal column of her own. In 1983, Bert was awarded the Sweepstakes Prize at the Wyoming Press Women Association’s annual state communications contest. Awarded to the contributor with the most combined points each year, Bert was the “Presswoman of the Year” after receiving 6 first-place prizes, as well as 3 for second-place and one third-place finish.

The Grubb family moved to Alaska in 1985, where Bert continued her newspaper work as a reporter for the Peninsula Clarion in Kenai. She and Paul also were the primary reporter and photographer for a fledgling newspaper called the Kachemak Compass. After several years of commuting between Homer and Kenai, Bert landed a job with the U.S. Postal Service, where she finished out her career as the most gregarious and talkative desk clerk the Post Office has ever seen. Legend has it the local P.O. set up two lines for customers, the regular line and the slower line for people who wanted to stay for a while and chat with Bert.

Bert’s primary hobby during her time in Alaska was the creation of beautiful handmade jewelry. Numerous craft fairs on the Kenai Peninsula were graced with the banner of her very popular “Bert’s Baubles.”

Bert was preceded in death by Paul, her husband of 53 years, and her sister-in-law Janet Johnson.

She is survived by her two sons and their wives, Paul III & Carolyn Grubb, and Ellis & Amy Grubb; her six grandchildren, Adeleine Grubb, Brendan Grubb, Anya Corp (and husband Jared), Evan Grubb, Sophia Grubb, and Evelyn Grubb; her two brothers-in-law Mike (and wife Cindy) Grubb and Jim Grubb; her two sisters-in-law Nancy Grubb and Betty Grubb Farr; her brother-in-law, Dave Johnson; and long-time friends Arnie Kremer and Robert Farr.