Marie L. Robinson (1877 – 1943)

Marie L. Robinson nee Johannpeter was born in St. Charles, Missouri on April 18, 1877, to Frederick William Johannpeter and Hannah Johannpeter nee Grieve. Marie was four years older than my great grandmother, Caroline “Lee” Ellis nee Johannpeter, and Lee’s closest sibling. When Lee wed William P. Ellis in 1912, Lee chose Marie to be her maid of honor.

When William died at only 40 years of age in December 1917, Lee and my grandfather, Gilbert P. Ellis, who was only two years old at the time, often lived with Aunt Marie. They also lived with Julius “Uncle Jules” Johannpeter, who lived at 5039 Thrush Avenue.

Grandpa talked about Aunt Marie from time to time. Grandpa said Aunt Marie had a heart of gold but terrible taste in men. She had a long time boyfriend named Jack, who made his money, when he had any, through professional gambling. Grandpa said Jack “was not worth the gun powder to blow to hell.”

In 1926, Aunt Marie served on a committee that helped organize the 27th Annual Post-Dispatch Christmas Festival, which provided toys, games, and clowns for 10,000 children at the St. Louis Coliseum. Aunt Marie still used the name Marie Johannpeter at this time. Marie was 49 years old at the time.

Sometime between 1927 and 1943, Aunt Marie started using the name Marie L. Robinson. I am not sure if she ever married as I cannot find a marriage record. On her death certificate, Great Grandma Lee had the person filling out the certificate enter none in the section that asked if Marie was single, married, widowed, etc. The recorder also did not list a name under spouse section.

In 1937, physicians notified Marie she had uterine cancer. Marie lived for five more years but the cancer eventually spread to her intenstined causing bowel blockage. At some point after her diagnosis, Marie moved in with Uncle Jules and Aunt Bertha on Thrush Avenue. Aunt Marie passed away at Christian Hospital on April 11, 1943 a week before her 66th birthday.

Marie was interred in the family burial plot in New Bethlehem Cemetery in Bellefountaine Neighbors, Missouri, on April 14, 1943. Marie was survived by three sisters, two brothers, and many nieces and nephews.