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Roberta J. Holland, 59 of Woodbridge, wife of Daniel for 37 years, passed away unexpectedly (peacefully) on August 18th, 2023.
Roberta grew up in East Haven, Ct to her parents Joseph and Rosemary (Bohan) Mailhot (deceased). Her surviving siblings include her older sister Gail Bartelli and husband Ed Bartelli, brother Steven, brother Matthew and wife Annie, and several nieces and nephews. Being the youngest sibling in a predominately Irish Catholic family, and having more liberties than the other siblings, she became affectionately and forever called “The Brat”, and the love of their lives. She was very active in Drum Core (The Connecticut Classics) for many years traveling around the country and Canada with her bother Matt, family in tow.
At the age of 16 she started working at Sears in Orange where she made many lifelong friends. On a late summer day in 1984 she was covering in the employee café when she met her future husband (and love of her life) Dan Holland. In order to see him more frequently, she pretended she needed his help with school work; even though she was the smart one. They dated for 2 years before getting married on Sept. 20th, 1986. They had two boys, Steven and Alex who loved her very much.
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Roberta received a data processing degree from Greater N.H. State Tech and continued to work towards her B.S., and then earn a master’s degree in IT Security at night. Meanwhile she worked at the University of New Haven, Aetna, SNET, Dana Engine Management, Bayer, Webster Bank, and the Knights of Columbus. Most recently she worked as a Senior Digital Forensics Examiner at the FBI in New Haven finding evidence in cell phones, cars, computers, and other electronics. She loved what she did and became an instructor to share her knowledge with others.
In November of 2019, her son Steven and his wife Zoe had a baby girl, Olivia; Roberta became Grammy, and could not get enough of her beautiful granddaughter. Though they were 5 hours away, she visited as often as she could, and did all those things grandmothers love to do. When she wasn’t working, she enjoyed crafts, reading, knitting, gardening, Disney, and all things Pittsburgh, but most of all, she loved her family.
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She was deeply loved and respected, and will be missed by many cousins, nieces, nephews and friends. Friends and family may call from 5-7 PM on Friday August 25th at the Cody-White Funeral Home, 107 Broad St., Milford, CT. There will also be a service at the Church of the Good Shepard on Racebrook Rd in Orange on Saturday August 26th at 9:30 AM followed by a private burial. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to any charity you like. To leave online condolences, please visit our website at www.codywhitefuneralservice.com