Emily Brooks Roane
Born: September 6th, 1948
Died: December 26th, 2017
Obituary
Emily Brooks Roane of Burlington, IA, age 69, died December 26, 2017, at the Great River Klein Center in West Burlington, IA.
Emily was born in Evanston, IL to parents Josephine and Kearney Roane. She graduated from Evanston Township High School and received her BA in education from Eastern Illinois University. She married Harry Dandelles in 1968 (div. 1981) and raised two children, Sarah and Stefan. She married Keith Schulz in 1985.
She taught at Nichols Middle School and then was an administrator at Presbyterian Homes, both in Evanston, while her children were young. After she and Keith married, she embarked on the vocation that was her true calling. She earned her Master’s Degree in social work at Loyola University of Chicago. Upon graduation, she worked as a clinical social worker in Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s psychiatric unit and earned her certificate in family therapy from the Family Institute.
After she and Keith moved to Burlington in 1994, Emily began her own clinical practice for individual and family therapy with a downtown Burlington office. She loved her work. Emily and Keith also maintained a Chicago residence, allowing her to stay connected with old friends, her twin sister, children, and grandchildren, while completing the coursework for a Ph.D at the Institute for Clinical Social Work in Chicago. Sadly, her disease, a rare and early onset form of dementia called primary progressive aphasia (PPA) forced her retirement in 2012. She is remembered in the community as a source of great comfort and guidance by friends, family, and clients alike.
Throughout her life, Emily was active in each church of which she was a member, including most recently Burlington’s Zion United Church of Christ. She was ever engaged with social hour, youth activities, and Bible study groups. She was strong in her faith and beliefs, and a supporter of equality and justice.
She enjoyed traveling worldwide (and visited five continents), listening to music of all kinds, and sharing experiences with her closest family and friends, who were very important to her.
Survivors include her husband Keith; her twin sister Katherine Roane; her dear friend Pam Johnson of Winthrop Harbor, IL; brother Wilson and sister-in-law Sue Roane of Waupaca, WI; and brother Daniel Roane of Northfield, IL; daughter Sarah Dandelles of Chicago, IL; son Stefan Dandelles and daughter-in-law Dina Dandelles and their three children of Evanston, IL; stepson Keith Schulz Jr and daughter-in-law Viet Ha and their two children of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; stepdaughter Christine Donnelly and her two children of Des Peres, MO; and numerous beloved cousins, nieces, and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents.
Cremation has been entrusted to the care of Prugh~Thielen Crematory.
The family will receive friends from 2:00 PM until 4:00 PM Friday, December 29, 2017 at Zion United Church of Christ.
The memorial service for Emily will be 4:00 PM Friday, December 29, 2017, at Zion United Church of Christ. A time of food and fellowship will be held at The Drake Restaurant following the service. Burial will be in Aspen Grove Cemetery at a later date.
Emily participated in research at Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center. For more information about PPA and dementia, please visit: http://www.brain.northwestern.edu/.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, Radnor Station Building 2, Suite 320, 290 King of Prussia Road, Radnor, PA 19087.