Adelia Robertson, Wife of Pat Robertson, Dead at 94
Adelia "Dede" Robertson, the leader behind the Christian Broadcasting Network and wife of The 700 Club host Pat Robertson, died on April 19 in Virginia Beach, VA. The televangelist's wife was 94, without a cause of death announced.
Dede Robertson married her husband Pat in 1954, soon becoming involved closely with the Christian Broadcasting Network and Regent University. She leaves behind her husband, four children – Timothy, Elizabeth, Gordon and Ann – with 14 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.
According to CBN, Robertson was a founding member of the boards and continued as a valued member of the boards at Christian Broadcasting Network, Regent University and Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Corporation. She was also named Christian Woman of the Year in 1986 and would help her husband run for president the following year toward the election, where he eventually lost out to George Bush.
"Dede Robertson was a woman of great faith, a champion of the Gospel, and a remarkable servant of Christ who has left an indelible print on all that she set her hand to during her extraordinary life," Pat Robertson wrote. Her obituary does note that Robertson had been under care for several months, with the family offering thanks to "Darnell Taylor, Lisa Garza, Mary Barrera, and Sandra Buachie from Seniorcorp and Jessica Pope from Trinity Hospice" for their efforts.
The funeral service for Robertson will be held at Regent University on April 25, 2022, at noon. There will be overflow seating in the Regent Theater and the Communications Building Plaza at the school.
Robertson was born in Ohio and received a bachelor's degree at Ohio State, followed by a master's in nursing from Yale. Her nursing background would come in handy later in life after she was able to go back to work and become a nursing professor. Due to her marriage to Robertson, she followed his beliefs that a woman shouldn't work outside of the home while their children were young.
Robertson and her husband were wed by a justice of the peace after running off without their strict religious parents who wouldn't approve the marriage traditionally. Before his turn to evangelism, Robertson was focused on politics. As NBC describes, the change came when Robertson poured out all of the couple's liquor, ripped a nude print from the wall and informing her that he had found the lord. She had her own experience years later, growing her faith during a church service. "I began to see how important what he was doing really was," she said in her biography.