Obituary of Roberta "Bobbie" Jean Daley

Mrs. Roberta Jean Daley has been a long-time resident of Colorado Springs with her late husband, Brig. Gen. Daniel H. Daley, USAF, (Ret.). She was born on September 25, 1921, in Winslow, Indiana and died on January 1, 2021.She received a BS in Home Economics with a minor in chemistry from Purdue University in 1942. Bobbie first worked for National Cash Register (NCR) in Dayton, Ohio. She then moved to the Jacksonville, Florida, area where she performed chemical testing of materials to use in making parachutes. In 1944, Bobbie returned to Ohio for a one-year internship in dietetics at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati.After marrying her husband on October 27, 1945, she joined him in Boston where he was a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Bobbie worked as a dietician at Cambridge Hospital until 1946 when they moved to Dayton. In 1956, the family moved to Japan. Bobbie enjoyed Japanese culture and cooking, and learned ikebana, the art of flower arranging, during their two years there. They returned to Dayton in 1958.In 1961 the Daleys moved to Colorado Springs when then-Major Daley was assigned to the faculty of the new U.S. Air Force Academy. Bobbie was active in the Officers Wives Club, volunteered as a Red Cross Grey Lady at the base hospital, and worked at the base thrift shop. From 1965 to 1967 the Daleys lived in Karachi, Pakistan, where they traveled extensively in Asia and Europe, including a final drive from Karachi to London when they returned to Colorado.After then-Colonel Daley received a presidential appointment as the first Permanent Professor and Head of the Department of Aeronautics at the Air Force Academy in July 1967, Bobbie led social gatherings of the Department members including cookouts, bridge, bowling, and ski weekends while continuing her volunteer activities. As empty nesters, Col. and Mrs. Daley spent two years abroad in London and traveled throughout Europe from 1972-74. They returned to the Air Force Academy for the next ten years until Brigadier General Daley retired from the Air Force in 1984 with Bobbie by his side.In retirement, they lived in Gleneagle while spending summers at their cottage on Loon Lake in upstate New York and winters in Surprise, Arizona. She is preceded in death by her husband in 2018; and son, David, in 2020.Bobby is survived by three children, Marta (Bruce) Ferguson and Jim, both of Golden, Colorado, and Chuck of Beavercreek, Ohio; six grandchildren; and ten great-grandchildren.Memorial donations may be made for the Daley Aero Department Endowment to the Air Force Academy Foundation, 3116 Academy Drive, USAF Academy, Colorado 80840.