Julia Hedwige (Robbins) Shambach

Julia Shambach died on Wednesday, January 9, 2019 at age 96, under the care of Heartland Hospice and The Neighborhood in Rio Rancho, NM. She was born in Altoona, PA on Tuesday, February 21, 1922. At the age of 12, her family moved to Dover-Foxcroft, ME, where she lived with her brother, Fred and sister, Justine, during the Depression., graduating from Foxcroft Academy. After assisting her father with his dental practice, she attended the University of Maine where she graduated in 1944 with a BS in Home Economics as a Phi Beta Kappa. While teaching and working in Detroit, MI, she met and married Arthur Shambach in 1947. GM moved them to Lockport, NY in 1952. They played golf, tennis, bridge and liked to ballroom dance together throughout their 54 years of marriage until Art passed. Julie continued to play tennis and golf until she was 90. She was active in the League of Women Voters, the College Women’s Club, and the PTA. She was devoted to her husband, her four boys, and her entire family. Through her independent spirit, she passed along her trademarks of intellectual curiosity, excellence, a love of tennis, a desire for her sons to be well-rounded, and a constant desire to learn more about and take an interest in the world. She was preceded in death by her husband of 54 years, Arthur; their first son, Eric; her sister, Justine Robbins McKusick; and her brother, Fred Robbins. She is survived by three sons, Stephen (Miriam) of Colorado Springs, CO, David (Nancy) of Rio Rancho, NM, and Fred (Mary) of Brandon, FL; seven grandchildren, Valerie (John) Coomer, William, Melissa, Jen (Frank) Lozano, Kim, Sara (Jonathon) Veach, and Daniel White; and one great-grandchild, Jay Bushman; and several nieces and nephews.

Memorial Services will be held Sunday, January 20, 2019 at 6:30 p.m. at Rio Rancho Presbyterian Church, 1004 24th Street SE in Rio Rancho, NM and at First Presbyterian Church of Lockport, NY on Saturday, April 6, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, her wishes were donations to either Niagara Hospice, Heartland Hospice of Albuquerque, NM, The Neighborhood in Rio Rancho, NM, Alzheimer’s Research, Cancer Research or Diabetes Research.