Walter McQuinn Roberson

Walter McQuinn Roberson, 86, died April 28, 2025 in Wilmington, Delaware. He was born on August 20, 1938, in Washington, D.C., at the Columbia Hospital for Women to the late Earle Rose McQuinn Roberson and the late Eugene Roberson, Sr. A resident of Washington, D.C., Walter attended Armstrong Senior High school, graduating in 1956.

After graduating high school, Walter attended North Carolina A&T State University.  While attending college in the early 1960s, unbeknownst to his parents at the time, Walter participated in the historic Greensboro Sit-Ins. The Greensboro Sit-Ins are historically known as one of the more pivotal events in the Civil Rights Movement. This involved African American students sitting at segregated lunch counters and refusing to leave when denied service. Such sit-ins and boycotts challenged segregation in public accommodations and led to the desegregation of many lunch counters in Greensboro. Many decades later, such protest would be described by the late Congressman John Lewis as getting in “Good Trouble.”

During one of his breaks from college, Walter returned home to Washington, D.C., where he met and later married, his former wife, Prudence E. Stevenson. The couple were married on June 17, 1961. Through this union came three children, Monica (Dabney), Eric, and Lydia (Oghogho/deceased).

After graduating from North Carolina A & T, Walter continued his activism by working with the local Washington, D.C., Chapter of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) breaking a color barrier in the mid-1960s, by becoming the first African American hired at the Chrysler/Plymouth Anacostia dealership. This occurred during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

Walter had a reputation as a very hard worker, allowing him to be an excellent provider to his family. Walter instilled in his children the importance of education, hard work, and managing their finances.

In his spare time, Walter enjoyed playing card games and bowling with family and friends. He served on a bowling league with his father, Eugene, where the two were quite competitive bowlers.

Walter is proceeded in death by his parents, Eugene and Earle Roberson; his sister, Lydia Roberson Taylor; his brother, Eugene Roberson; and his youngest daughter, Lydia Denise Roberson Oghogho.

Survivors include his children, Monica (Kirk) Dabney (Newark, Delaware) and Eric Roberson (Niceville, Florida); his grandchildren, Junae Roberson, Christian (Scott) Graham and Courtney (Ryan) Hill; his great grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews, cousins and friends.