Carroll McRoberts and Robert Duysing (Bob) Gilges, of Crozet, died unexpectedly on May 31, 2018. They were familiar figures in the White Hall and Sugar Hollow communities, where they lived for 22 years.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1936 to James William and Frances Duysing Gilges, Bob attended Southwest High School in Kansas City, Missouri and graduated from Dartmouth College, class of 1958.
From 1958 to 1962, he was a Navy officer on the minesweeper USS Dominant. He was fortunate to serve in a time of relative peace, and his adventures in the Navy led to a lifelong love of travel. While based at Little Creek, Virginia he met his other lifelong love, Carroll Johnston McRoberts. He and Carroll fell deeply in love and were married on September 10, 1960.
Carroll was born in 1939 to Margaret Soutter and Lt. Comdr. James Johnston McRoberts. Her father, an aircraft carrier pilot, died in a plane crash early in the war effort, when she was two years old. Her beloved stepfather was Rear Adm. Jerry Curtis South.
At about the age of ten, Carroll discovered her love of riding as part of a pony regiment at Oscar Smith’s Carolanne Farm in Virginia Beach. Creative and artistic, she graduated with a degree in fine arts from the University of Mary Washington in 1960.
Always teammates in marriage, Bob traveled and worked long hours, while Carroll held down the fort at home, raising their three daughters.
Bob worked for IBM in sales for five years in Kansas City, Missouri before joining Peat, Marwick, Mitchell as a management consultant in 1967 (today known as KPMG). His ability to see the big picture without missing details, find practical approaches to challenges, and genuinely engage people fueled his career. He transferred to Atlanta, Georgia in 1976 as Partner in Charge of the management consulting practice. In 1985, they moved to Greenwich, Connecticut while Bob worked as Partner in Charge of Information Systems Services Consulting in the New York, New York office. He retired from KPMG in 1995 and he and Carroll began to look for the ideal place to retire.
They found it outside Charlottesville, near the Shenandoah National Park, where they took delight every day in the natural beauty and native life that surrounded them at their home. It has been a source of joy and a haven from which they pursued their many interests.
Carroll, affectionately known as Apple, was devoted to animals large and small. She was a certified wildlife rehabilitator, and active in community groups such as the Parent Teacher Organization, Junior League, and the White Hall Ruritan. Bob also was a committed volunteer, as well as a tennis player, stamp collector, bird watcher, and regular at UVA men’s basketball games. They worked hand in hand on projects such as restoring the 19th-century log cabin on the historic McAllister farm in Sugar Hollow, and helped form Friends of the Moormans River, a group of residents that successfully advocated for the restoration of stream flows to the Moormans State Scenic River. They were both avid supporters of educational, animal protection, environmental and conservation causes.
As they approached their 58thwedding anniversary, they tended to each other, their family, friends, farm and animals, with boundless generosity and care.
They are survived by Carroll’s sister, Margaret Soutter McRoberts, step siblings Jerry Curtis South Jr., and Raymonde South Dowty, their daughters Margaret Carroll Gilges (John Rabasa), Emily Talcott Gilges Watson, Ellen South Gilges Pressley (Kurt Theorin). Grandchildren are Robert Walker Watson (Caitlin), Margaret Louise Watson, Christopher José Rabasa, Mary Grace Pressley, and Frances Carroll Rabasa. Their great granddaughter is Harper Erin Watson. Other family members include Banjo, Little Bit, Lily, and all the woodland creatures.
Plans for a service will be made at a later date. In Carroll and Bob’s memory, please consider making a donation to one or more of the following organizations: Albemarle/Charlottesville SPCA, Alzheimer’s Association, Defenders of Wildlife, Ivy Creek Foundation, Monticello Bird Club, Piedmont Environmental Council, Virginia Search and Rescue Dog Association, White Hall Ruritan Club, Wildlife Center of Virginia, or an educational, animal protection, environmental or conservation organization of your choice.
