Our “People of the Park” Series Returns:

A Visit with Kit Robertson

By Dale Dauten

We’d just sat down in The Resort’s courtyard when a passerby stopped to joke with Kit Robertson about needing a loan. Why? The previous evening she’d won nearly a thousand-dollar payout in the last bingo session of the season.

But, bingo or no bingo, Kit is often stopped by friends saying hello – after all, she’s been an active resident at The Resort for 33 years… or “maybe it’s 34 — I’ve lost track.”

Let’s back up and tell Kit’s story from the beginning. She was born in Minneota, Minnesota and grew up there. Just four years-old when she lost her mom, Kit and her five siblings were raised by her father, a farmer and beekeeper.

(When we asked Kit if she ended up with a lifelong fondness for bees, she gave a shiver and barked a quick “No!” She added, “I’ve been stung way too many times.”)

After Minneota High, she moved to St. Paul and then to Lake Forest. That’s where she eventually married her husband Jack and had seven kids. “It’s a good Catholic family,” she says, “with 15 grandkids and 15 great grandkids, including the latest one just last week.”

After retiring, Kit and Jack moved to northern Minnesota, just south of the Canadian border. Which explains why she’s in no hurry to go north for the summer: “I’ll head back in June. They only get about a month and a half of summer.”

Moonrise over Usery Mountain Park

As for finding The Resort, Kit and Jack were spending the weekend in Texas and decided to visit Arizona. They’d planned to stay at nearby Usery Mountain Park but discovered it was full. Driving around Mesa, they spotted a sign that Jack couldn’t resist:

COME ON IN

and

HAVE A SLICE OF CHERRY PIE WITH ICE CREAM!

He turned in. They felt welcome and decided they’d stay at The Resort while they looked for somewhere else to be their regular spot. Like so many others since, they decided there was no place better.

Although she lost Jack a dozen years back, Kit has continued to spend most of the year at The Resort and continues to keep very busy. You might see her at billiards, or golf, the casino or the chorale, or you might spot her riding around the park on her orange bike. Plus, she’s the Director of the Kitchen Band that performs at Resort breakfasts and has appearances around the Easy Valley.

She summed up her life at The Resort by saying, “My life is full!” And then she offered her philosophy: “I get up with a smile and a happy face and hope to keep it all day long.”

CALL FOR “PEOPLE OF THE PARK”

As the winter season winds down, we have fewer activities to profile in The Resorter, but that means we have more opportunities to add new faces to our “People of The Park” series. If you know someone you think would make for a engaging profile, please let us know. (We can do an interview over the phone if they’ve left for the summer.)

Email our editor, Dale Dauten, at ddauten@gmail.com.

STATUS UPDATE ON HDTV/INTERNET

The work may not be done, but everything is working.

That sums up Rhonda’s report on the HDTV/Internet project. There are still improvements to the “head-ins” (where the Cox cable meets the park’s system) going on, and while there are green pedestals to be replaced and cables to be buried, the main construction is done and the remaining finishing-up construction should be completed over the summer months.