Obituary Notice for Ulla K. R. Roberson (4/11/1933 – 10/2/2024) In the late afternoon of Wednesday, the 2nd of October 2024 – shortly after a visit at the assisted care home where she lived briefly from her devoted husband Fred – Ulla Kaarina Renvall Roberson departed this life to take her place among the angels. Ulla was born in a clinic to Ithiel Renvall and Irja Kotkenkallio on the 11th of April 1933 in Helsinki, Finland. Her father was a military officer In the Finnish army who was a descendant in a large Finnish political family, and her mother was a homemaker who came from a family which also included schoolteachers and members of other educated professions. Ulla took great pride in her nearly five-decade-long career as a waitress – a profession in which she got her first job in Sweden at age 17, after having attended high school in Helsinki. Despite spending some time on occasion working as a housekeeper – and despite some pressure from some of her extended family and family friends to become an office worker or secretary as she got older – it was to the job of being a waitress that Ulla would consistently return, and it was the profession of being a waitress in which she was extraordinarily proficient: From former customers and co-workers to supervisors and restaurant owners, everyone overwhelmingly agreed that Ulla was one of the best waitresses that they had ever had the pleasure of being served by or working with. Ulla’s co-workers and supervisors over the years became a type of extended family for her – and their involvement in her life even after she retired from the profession of being a waitress near the turn of the century after nearly 50 years of service has been as extraordinary, loving, caring, and essential to her well-being as the involvement of blood-related family would be. Ulla ended up working long hours as a waitress for most of her working life – but when she wasn’t waitressing, her favorite activities were being with her family and friends, going to casinos for shows and playing the penny slots, eating out at nice restaurants, traveling and spending time with her devoted and adoring husband Fred, with whom she was married just short of 60 years. Ulla’s gift to the world is the gift of love, laughter and devoted friendship. Ulla was a skilled and gifted storyteller -- and observers could almost always tell which room in any building Ulla was in because she would leave friends, relatives and even casual passers-by in stitches and roaring with laughter, even better than some professional comedians. Ulla was preceded in death by her father Ithiel and her mother Irja; her uncle Benni Renvall; her brothers Pekka and Veikko; her half-sisters Marjatta and Pirkko; her sister-in law Gloria; her daughter Jaana and her granddaughter Brijaana. She is survived by her husband Fred; her nephew Juha; her sister-in-law Fredreda; brothers-in-law Donald and Roger; her nephews Clifford and Eric; her nieces Carolyn. Robin and Michelle; her grandnephews Sam, Paul and Paul Lamar; her grandniece Ellen; her cousins Venice, ZsaZsa and Ingrid; as well as many other cousins, relatives by marriage and distant blood relatives. Ulla is also survived by a host of former co-workers and supervisors (many of whom had known her for decades) who have acted as a second family for her. Among these “new” family members are (in alphabetical order): Janice Aguilera, Patty Caraveo, Karen Dipple, Diane Heaps, Julisia Hernandez, Agatha “Aggie” Kwan, Angela Kwan, Leilani “Lani” Leoni, Leah Powell and Norma Sanner. Ulla’s body was cremated at an After.com facility in Phoenix on Friday, the 11th of October 2024 in accordance with her wishes. A private memorial service will be held from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. on the 2nd of November 2024 in the private meeting room at Anzio’s Italian Restaurant, 12418 N. 28th Dr, Phoenix, AZ 85029. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the following association that is spearheading funding and innovative research and care to cure Alzheimer’s disease and an assortment of eye diseases such as macular degeneration: BrightFocus Foundation, 22512 Gateway Center Dr, Clarksburg, MD 20871. Ulla’s surviving family members would very much appreciate a donation to this foundation in her honor.