Roberta Yuskiewicz Thornton passed away peacefully on March 1, 2025 at the age of 85, while under hospice care at Whitney Center in Hamden, Connecticut. During her life, Roberta touched the lives of many people who knew her as a strong-willed woman dedicated to her family, her lifelong friends, and her churches. Roberta spent most of her adult life in the New Haven area but was raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She was born in Scranton on May 21, 1939 to the late Vincent Yuskiewicz and Marie Ostrowsky Yuskiewicz.
After completing high school, Roberta graduated from Scranton State Hospital School of Nursing in 1959 and became a Registered Nurse. She was always proud of her service as a RN, and it was through that service that she met her future husband, Dr. George F. Thornton. They met at the West Haven VA Hospital in Connecticut and married in 1963. Later, she went back to college and obtained her B.A. at Southern Connecticut State University.
In 1965, Roberta and George traveled halfway around the world to live in what was then called Calcutta, India with their 7-month old daughter, Pamela. George had accepted an offer of a research position from Johns Hopkins Medical School to study infectious meningitis and its treatment in India. After three years in India, they traveled back to New Haven, stopping in many countries along the way. Shortly after returning to the U.S., their second child, G. Eric Thornton, was born.
Roberta and George settled in Woodbridge, CT to raise their two children. Roberta continued her nursing work at Milford Hospital. As her husband advanced in his career to become Chief of Medicine at Waterbury Hospital and faculty at Yale Medical School, Roberta changed careers to become a real estate agent with various Connecticut realty firms, spending more than thirty years selling homes in the greater New Haven area and ultimately retiring from H. Pearce Realty.
Roberta and George purchased a cottage on Block Island, RI in the early 1970s, and she spent many summers there enjoying time with her family and friends. Roberta also enjoyed spending weeks each winter in Naples, Florida. She loved music, especially opera, and to sing and travel. Often, she was able to combine singing and traveling with the Waterbury Chorale, New Haven Chorale, and with her church in Naples.
Roberta spent her last six years at Whitney Center in Hamden where she sang in the choir, worked in the library and helped organize music concerts, as well as recruited friends to join her there.
Roberta is survived by her daughter Pamela Thornton Richter and son-in-law Norm Richter of Lexington, MA; her son, G. Eric Thornton and daughter-in-law Jennifer Hardy Thornton of Marblehead, MA; her four beloved granddaughters who called her "Babcia": Clara Richter, Annika Richter, Alexa Thornton and Ella Thornton; and her brother, Vincent Douglas of North Carolina, and her two nephews, Brett and Vincent Yuskiewicz.
Friends are invited to a Memorial Service celebrating Roberta's life on Sunday, April 27th at 1:00 p.m. at Whitney Center, 200 Leeder Hill Drive, Hamden, CT. To send a condolence to her family, please see obituary at www.beecherandbennett.com.