Caroline Robb

Caroline Hendren Robb died peacefully in Overland Park, KS on Tuesday, January 17, 2023. A celebration of life will be held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Saturday, February 11, 2023, at 2:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, she would be pleased by a remembrance to St. Paul’s Church, the Pembroke Hill School, St. Luke’s Hospital, or the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. 

Mrs. Robb was born August 17, 1928, in New Orleans, Louisiana to Margaret and William Hardy Hendren Jr. She moved to Kansas City with her family on her 5th birthday in 1933. She attended Bryant Elementary School and the Sunset Hill School class of 1946 (now the Pembroke Hill School). She then entered Smith College, majoring in English Literature and making the Dean’s List frequently. After graduating from Smith, she worked as a trainee to a prominent interior decorator in Kansas City and then several years for the promotions department of Time magazine in New York. She left her career in New York to pursue her passion, teaching, in Boston where she taught 4th grade. Carol returned to Kansas City to teach 5th grade at her Alma Mater, Sunset Hill from 1958 to 1961. 

In 1960, she married the love of her life M. Bruce Robb Jr. They had three children, Melanie McLeod Smith, Adam Bruce Robb, and Margaret Adele O’Neill. She taught in the public-school sector from 1974 to 1976 and returned to teach in the Pembroke Country Day Lower School from 1976 to 1984 followed by the Pembroke Hill Lower School from 1985 until her retirement in 1993. Carol received her Master of Arts Degree from the University of Missouri Kansas City in 1980 and was inducted into Pembroke Hill’s Faculty Hall of Fame in 2003. In retirement she continued to substitute teach, enjoyed time with family, occasional visits from former students and forever friends, her church activities, and gardening. Carol was a member of St. Paul’s Altar Guild, Docent at the Nelson-Atkins Art Gallery, BOTAR and a member of the Junior League. 

Carol is survived by her husband Bruce and their three children and their spouses, Melanie and Mark Smith of Longmont, CO, Adam and Maria Robb of Overland Park, KS, and Meg and Will O’Neill of Potomac Falls, VA. She has 7 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild. Melanie Smith’s children are Amanda Kelley Pearson, Abigail Louise Smith, and Johanna Margaret Ratliff. Adam Robb’s child is Isabel Oriana Robb. Meg O’Neill’s children are Madeline Margaret O’Neill, Alexandra Erin O’Neill, and Kaitlin Elizabeth O’Neill. Carol’s memory will be cherished for her unfailing good humor and bright intelligence, her deep devotion to faith and family, her joy of teaching, her selfless service to others, and her staunch Scottish and Irish fortitude.