Betty Robinson

Sadly, our deeply loved Wife, Mother and Grahme, Betty Anita Robinson, 70, of Williston, passed away Friday, April 24, 2026. She was born December 4, 1955, in Birmingham, Alabama, to Lewis G. Brooks and Betty J. Brooks.

Anita was a woman of quiet strength and deep devotion. Raised in a family that understood the value of legacy and careful stewardship, she spent her professional life as a dedicated bookkeeper at Williston Peanuts, where she served alongside her beloved husband, Andy Robinson. With Andy, she built a marriage of 36 years grounded in deep love and quiet devotion, a partnership that grew stronger every day.

Beginning in the early 1990s at her father's request, Anita, “Babs” as he called her, devoted herself to genealogical research, pursuing formal study and developing a substantial body of published works documenting the Brooks, Nelson, and Lyle family lines. Her office became a repository of maps, meticulously constructed family trees, and first-person accounts—a testament to her belief that handwritten records and individual stories are sacred historical documents. She volunteered for years at the Family History Library in Gainesville, FL helping others discover and preserve their own family narratives. Through this work, she developed profound relationships with people across generations, understanding that remembrance is a form of love.

This understanding shaped everything. Anita expressed her affection through handmade cards and handwritten letters, remembering every birthday, every milestone, every moment that mattered to those she loved. Her beautiful southern garden—filled with treasured daylilies, azaleas, and agapanthus—reflected the horticultural passion she inherited from her father. Even the plants themselves carried meaning: some she still tended were propagated by Lewis's own hands.

A member of First Baptist Church, Williston, Anita lived out a deep, abiding faith rooted in extensive bible study and a devoted prayer life. Her spiritual conviction was the bedrock of who she was, grounding her through every season.

When dementia came, it took much. But it could not take everything. Over three years of speech therapy, Anita fought fiercely to preserve as many words as possible, telling her granddaughter that the ability to say "I love you"—was the phrase that mattered most—and the names of her four grandchildren: Kyra, Jenna, Annie, and Bub.

Anita will be lovingly remembered by her devoted husband Andy Robinson; her two children, Elia "Ellie" Fant and her husband Allen Fant of Morriston, FL, and John T. Gray III and his wife Tiffany Gray of Williston, FL; her four grandchildren, Kyra Fant and Jenna Fant of Gainesville, FL, Anniston "Annie" Gray, and John “Bub” T. Gray IV; her sisters, Len Robertson and her husband Joe of Wetumpka, AL, and Meg Walker and her husband George of Erie, PA; and a legacy of genealogical research that will take years to fully catalog and honor.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Lewis G. Brooks and Betty J. Brooks.

A graveside service will be held on Thursday, April 30, 2026 at 5:00 PM at Orange Hill Cemetery, Williston, FL. Brother Jason Owenby will officiate.

A celebration of life will be held on Friday, May 1, 2026 at 5:00 PM at First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall in Williston, FL.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Haven Hospice of Chiefland, whose meticulous and compassionate care during Anita's final days was a testament to their commitment to family-centered healing and dignity for which this family could not be more grateful.

A private woman who loved deeply, Anita leaves behind a family forever changed by her devotion, unwavering prayers and love for them and a world made richer by her careful preservation of stories and her insistence that connection—handwritten, remembered, spoken with effort—is some of the truest work we can do.

Arrangements are entrusted to Weems & Sons Funeral Homes, 512 East Noble Avenue, Williston, Florida 32696.