Robin

By late summer 2017, Robin pretty much knew what to expect from life.

Homeless? Yes. In pain from a chronic back condition? Most definitely. Pretty much tired out? Of course.

But actress?

But actress she became — and that was only one of the positive changes that happened to Robin, then 56, when she came to the Julia Greeley Home in fall 2017.

First — who is Robin? She is a mother, grandmother, and a former professional bookkeeper with the city of Denver. She went to Ignatius and Annunciation grade schools, and graduated from Manuel High School.

Robin worked for the city until excruciating back pain made work impossible. Her injuries — which eventually required surgery — were caused when she became a target of domestic violence.

“But I didn’t want to have the back surgery until I had raised my kids,” Robin says. After her children, Aaron, now 27, and Veronica, 30, were grown, they found her an apartment. That seemed like a good solution until her rent skyrocketed and became impossible to pay—and Robin had three days to find somewhere to live.

What followed was six weeks of temporary shelters and living conditions, until Robin was referred to the Julia Greeley Home. She used her time with us to explore independence – a job and apartment — giving her the means and space to welcome her children and grandchildren.

While easing into life at the Julia Greeley Home, something unexpected happened — Robin founded an unlikely calling as an actress.

Robin was chosen to play Servant of God Julia Greeley, our home’s patron, in the first annual “Night at the Cemetery” program sponsored at Halloween time by Mt Olivet Cemetery and the Archdiocese of Denver.  The program gives high schoolers the chance to see a wholesome depiction of Halloween seen through the eyes of saints, rather than in the worldly display of Halloween as a time of “goblins and ghouls.”

For Robin, it was a special honor to play Julia Greeley, because the beloved Denver figure had recently been recognized for her heroic life and set on the path of canonization as a saint.

Robin was given several pages of dialogue to absorb and narrate, but soon the role of Julia Greeley took on a life of its own. Robin set aside the script and, taking on the persona of Julia, she delivered a passionate and accurate account of the future saint’s life to the fascinated audience of students and teenagers.

The organizers of the event, and the staff and residents of Julia Greeley Home who came out to see her, were amazed at Robin’s mastery of the complex material in so short a time, and in her ability to bring Julia Greeley to life.

Robin shares her heritage with Julia Greeley as an African-American woman, but beyond that, she knows little about her family background. As far as the family’s distant past more than a century ago, “I’m sure we were born into slavery, but my mother took a lot of secrets to the grave with her.”

Whatever life holds, Robin knows one thing — she has already been asked to play Julia Greeley when Halloween rolls around again.

“It was a privilege,” she said at the end of 2017. “I will definitely be there next year!”

And she was. Robin, by then happily living in her own apartment and enjoying her family around her, played Julia Greeley again in 2018. Encore!