Obituary – Roberta Anne Peacock

Published 5:56 pm Monday, February 24, 2025

Roberta Anne Peacock was born on March 23, 1926 in Lakeland, Florida. One of four children of Robert and Annie Peacock who were Scottish immigrants to the United States shortly after World War 1. Upon graduating from high school in Jacksonville, Florida in 1943, Roberta enrolled at the University of Alabama where she majored in speech/theater. Her love of and dedication to the theater began much earlier when, at the age of seven, while studying at Madame Roxie’s Tap, Ballet and Ballroom Academy and Madame Gracie’s School of Elocution, she made her stage debut as Dawn Delight, the Queen of the Fairies, in the Central Avenue Grammar School’s production of The Enchanted Forrest wearing a stunning fairy costume constructed entirely of crepe paper by her mother. 

On that stage a lifelong love was born. Among her many roles at the University was her starring role in Antigone for which she gained rave reviews and still remembered her lines in the last year of her life. She auditioned and was accepted for placement at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, but a health scare required her to give that place up. When she recovered, she returned to the University. While in Tuscaloosa, she met a young pilot recently home from WWII, Arthur E. Gamble, Jr. They married in 1948 and lived in Tuscaloosa while she continued her graduate work and Arthur completed law school. They then moved to Gamble’s hometown of Greenville where they lived until his death in 2008 in the home in which he was born.

Roberta taught history, speech and drama for most of her professional career in the public schools in Greenville. As a teacher she nurtured her love of theater as a director and costume designer. Her production, in 1971, of Hello Dolly! received a commendation by the United States Congress as an achievement in race relations in the state of Alabama. It was the first time that parents of all races had sat together in the same space to watch their children perform. Throughout her life she was a fierce advocate for racial equity and walked alongside her husband through the turbulent 1960’s as an advocate for equal protection under the law.

After Roberta retired, she remained active in the arts, serving on the State Council of the Arts for twelve years and as chair of the grants review committee. She believed in the importance of arts education and cultivation especially in rural communities. She participated in the Greenville Area Arts Council and was instrumental in the restoration of the Ritz Theater as a regional arts venue. For her lifelong dedication she was awarded the Governor’s Lifetime Achievement Award as Patron of the Arts and was similarly awarded by her Alma Mater, the University of Alabama.

She was a member of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, where she served on the Vestry in younger days.

She is survived by her daughter The Rev. Eugenia Anne Gamble (Robert Phillips), beloved nieces and nephews, step grandchildren Kate Phillips, Paul Phillips (Melissa) and her two great grandchildren (Penelope and Melody Phillips.)

A Celebration of Life service will be held on Feb. 27 at 11 a.m. at St. Thomas Episcopal Church. Memorial gifts may be made to St. Thomas Episcopal Church, The Greenville Area Arts Council (P.O.Box 825) or your local Humane Society.

Online condolences can be made at www.dunklinfh.com.