Karen Edgerton Robertson

Karen Edgerton Robertson passed away peacefully on July 11, 2024, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She is survived by her husband, F. Dillon Robertson, Jr., of Winston-Salem; son Nathan D.M. Robertson and daughter-in-law Michelle M. Robertson of Baltimore; brother David E. Edgerton and sister-in-law Alison H. Edgerton of Backus, MN; brother Stephen W. Edgerton and sister-in-law Dawn M. Edgerton of Chapel Hill; sister Elizabeth Edgerton Albright and brother-in-law D. Alex Albright of Fountain, NC; and numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents J. Wilbert Edgerton and Marianna Dow Edgerton of Greensboro in 2012. 

Karen was born in Raleigh in 1948 and grew up living in Durham, Daytona Beach, Birmingham, Charlottesville, and the Chicago suburb of Evanston as her family moved. A precocious child, she skipped first grade, having already taught herself to read. She graduated from Evanston High School in 1965. The family moved to Chapel Hill, and Karen took a job at the Varsity Theatre, where she met her future husband, Dillon. She attended UNC, and the two were married one month before her 20th birthday. Dillon accepted a commission in the U.S. Army, and Karen joined him in El Paso, TX, where Karen was instructed to shake out her shoes each morning to check for scorpions. Their son Nathan was born in 1970, and Dillon completed his service as an air defense artillery officer. Karen was an avid letter-writer during this period, detailing her life as a new mother on a desert military base across the border from Juarez, Mexico.

After the three-year army stint, the family moved to Winston-Salem in 1971, where Dillon began his career in organization improvement and executive development. Karen worked part-time at the Wake Forest University student union until completing a Master of Science in Library Science from UNC in 1980. She then began her career with Forsyth County libraries, including 10 years as the Branch Manager at the Rural Hall branch library. There she wrote a bi-weekly “Book Beat” column for the Rural Hall Independent. After retirement in 2003, she continued working in libraries as a volunteer, reading to children and leading them in crafts at weekly storytime. She was active at Highland Presbyterian Church and sang in the choir for many years. Her cherished avocation began by taking acting lessons, then winning roles in local community theater productions. She went on to act in some two dozen plays and musicals with Little Theatre of Winston-Salem, Stained Glass Playhouse, Twin City Stage, and Winston-Salem Theatre Alliance, forging lasting friendships in the process. Among her favorite roles were principal characters in “Walking Across Egypt,” “The Red Velvet Cake Wars,” and “On Golden Pond.” She loved literature and poetry, and made sure that they were introduced into the lives of succeeding generations of her family. 

Karen and Dillon traveled together extensively including to 16 countries abroad, including many European destinations, Costa Rica, Turkey, and New Zealand. They also enjoyed camping across the U.S. and pitched tents regularly with a group of friends from Highland Presbyterian. In October 2023, they sailed on the Queen Mary II to London where they attended several dramatic productions at renowned venues. They moved to Salemtowne retirement community in 2020, where they found a supportive community of friends, shortly before Karen was diagnosed with advanced melanoma. 

Karen was a gifted gamer and puzzler, excelling at word games and logic, influenced by her mother and aided by a high school Latin curriculum. She loved working a jigsaw puzzle or acting out charades together with extended family members at biennial beach trips. On their last such trip, in June 2024, the family worked together solving challenging “cryptic crosswords” from a vintage book of the puzzles. 

Karen will be remembered as a lively friend, wife, mother, sister, and aunt with a brilliant mind, an impish wit, and a spirited disposition. 

A memorial service will be held on Saturday July 27, 2024 at 11:00 am at Highland Presbyterian Church. 2380 Cloverdale Avenue, Winston-Salem, NC 27103.

For those unable to attend in person, the memorial service will be streamed live: https://www.highlandpres.org/highland-worship-online/  

In lieu of flowers, please read a good book, attend a play at a local theater, or volunteer or donate to your local community.