Elaine Carol Roberts

Elaine Carol Mahn Roberts of Linden, passed away peacefully at her home early Saturday morning, 8 February 2025 following a 2.5 year journey with metastatic breast cancer. Up until the end, Elaine (Wife, Mom, Sister, In-Law, Aunt, Grandma, Nana) maintained her kindness, compassion, resiliency, appreciation of beauty, love of family and friends and expressed her gratitude for her long life, full of wonderful and varied experiences.

Elaine was born in Detroit, Michigan on 16 April 1939, to Michael and Alvera (DeCamillo) Mahn. She was the youngest of three children until her parents divorced and both remarried adding a brother and two sisters to her family.

Through close mutual friends, Elaine was introduced to John Bernard Roberts in June of 1954 while completing her senior year at Cooley High School in Detroit. They married on 8 August 1959 at Precious Blood Parish in Detroit after John returned from serving two years stationed in the State of Georgia as Military Police for the United States Army.

John and Elaine settled on the Northwest side of Detroit. Elaine worked as a clerical/office manager while raising their family and she was extremely proud of John’s career as a Detroit police officer. In addition to her caring for her young family and work outside the home, Elaine also stepped up to support care for her youngest sister Susan Schaffer, following a serious car accident. Additionally, she was a primary care giver for both her mother and father in their later years until they passed.

Without a doubt, the richest part of Elaine and John’s life was the welcoming of their grandchildren. Completing their family at a young age, afforded them many wonderful years creating memories with their grandchildren. Three of Elaine and John’s children married within the time frame of about a year. Hence, there was an entire cohort of grandchildren moving forward, celebrating milestone life events for a few decades. Every year the family celebrated Pop Pop’s Day, a traditional family vacation observed for 3 to 4 days in the summer. Middle school and high school graduations were tightly spaced in a few years, as were college graduations, grandchildren completing graduate school and getting started with independent lives. Elaine and John’s last grandchildren, a set of twin girls, were born in October 2011 to their oldest daughter and her husband, keeping the magic alive for them both.

One treasured characteristic that Elaine maintained was her ability to stay cheerful with each downturn in her physical abilities as she aged and as her disease state progressed. The last few weeks, we asked what would bring her comfort in the evenings to wind down. She asked for one of her favorite authors, Erma Bombeck, whose newspaper columns she had read regularly. Kent, her son-in-law, would read a few paragraphs each night to her from “The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank”.

Elaine is survived by her children, Linda (Marc) Roberts Greenblatt of South Burlington, VT, Michael (Ann Marie) Roberts of Rochester Hills, MI and Lisa (Kent) Wabel of Linden, MI; son-in-law, Michael Conway of Holt, MI; her eight grandchildren: Olivia Roberts; Madison, Emma and Hannah Wabel; Abbey and Alex Conway; twins Madeline and Arielle Greenblatt; sister, Susan Schaffer of Gilbert, AZ and nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Michael and Alvera; husband, John; youngest daughter, Bonnie Roberts Conway; her brothers, John Mahn and Michael Lawrence and her sisters, Jean Mahn Perry and Sandy Schaffer Spernack.

In lieu of food or flowers, please consider a donation in memory of Elaine Carol Roberts to The Care Team Hospice Foundation, Attn: Janel Boensch, 5401 Gateway Center, Suite D, Flint, Michigan 48507

A Funeral Mass for Elaine and John Roberts will be celebrated 11AM Monday, March 3, 2025 at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, 600 N. Adelaide St., Fenton. Fr. Robert Copeland celebrant. Interment will be held at a later date at Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly. 

Tributes may be shared at www.sharpfuneralhomes.com.