Margaret Mercedes Robertson

Margaret Mercedes Robertson passed peacefully into eternity Friday, February 7, 2014. She was born October 19, 1925 in Monterrey, Mexico to Margit Agnes Buda and Lajos Jurkovich, recent immigrants from Budapest, Hungary.

At two years old, Margaret and her older sister and brother moved to Budapest to live with their "Grandmother Buda" where they learned their native Hungarian language and culture. It was in Budapest that Margaret developed her life-long passion for music and was taught to play the piano by her grandmother. After the death of Grandmother Buda, Margaret was enrolled in the Sacre-Coeur boarding school in Budapest where she lived through the age of nine. She and her siblings enjoyed traveling throughout Europe during visits from her parents. Margaret returned to Mexico at ten years old, but her education then continued at the Ursuline Academy in San Antonio, Texas. She lived at the Academy until her graduation in 1942 at the age of 16, but spent her summers in Mexico with her family, then living in Tampico. Margaret began her college education in 1944 at the University of Texas, but her education was put on hold when she met and married Dr. William W. Robertson, University of Texas Physics Professor, and began the role of wife and mother.

In 1963, at the age of 38, Margaret decided it was time to finish what she began 19 years earlier. With her youngest child now in first grade at Casis Elementary, Margaret reentered the University of Texas to pursue a degree in Sociology, with the hope of working in a field devoted to improving the lives of those in need. As the mother of three active children, it took Margaret five, long years of part-time attendance at UT to earn her Bachelor's Degree. In 1970, her career hopes were fulfilled when she became an Adult Probation Officer for Travis County, supervising and counseling probationers to turn their lives around to become productive members of society. She later developed and supervised a volunteer program for the Travis County Adult Probation Department, training and utilizing volunteers to work one-on-one with probationers to mentor them on their journey to crime-free, responsible lives. Her volunteer training program became a model used throughout the United States. Margaret was invited to Washington, DC by the U.S. Department of Justice to report on her volunteer program and share the successes achieved in Travis County.

Margaret and Bill had many wonderful travels throughout North America and Europe, especially enjoying a return to Budapest to visit relatives and re-explore her childhood environs. In later years, the volunteer coordinator became the volunteer as Margaret gave freely of her time and skills to Seton Medical Center and Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church.

Margaret is remembered by her family as a loving, caring, generous and devoted mother, grandmother and, recently, great-grandmother, and loved wife for fifty-two years of the late and much missed Bill Robertson. To their grandchildren, Margaret and Bill will always be "Granny and Pop", ready on a moments notice to help, play, read, travel, babysit, explain, sing, play piano and scratch backs at bedtime. In all, Margaret's life mission was to create and spread joy to all, whether to a family member or a stranger. To her we say, "Job well done, mission accomplished."

Margaret is survived by her children, Cathy Aicklen and her husband Ken Aicklen, Jimmy Robertson and his wife Michelle Bensenberg, and Mike Robertson and his wife Becky Robertson, as well as her eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild, Lauren, Elizabeth and Matthew Aicklen, Jenny Robertson McBrayer, her husband Scott and their son Jonas McBrayer, and Patrick, Julia, Andrew and Jana Robertson.

A memorial service celebrating Margaret's life will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, February 14, 2014, at Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church, 7127 Bee Caves Road in Austin. That's Valentine's Day, so don't be shy about wearing red as it was also Margaret's favorite color.

Margaret's family would like to extend special thanks to the many staff members of Longhorn Village, Casa Mesquite, who provided loving care for Margaret in her last years.

Memorial contributions may be made to either "The Gathering at WHPC," 7127 Bee Caves Road, Austin, TX 78746 or "Breakthrough Austin," 1050 E. 11th Street, Suite 350, Austin, TX 78702.