Remembering a Life That Made a Difference

She was known as everyone’s mom or simply as “Miss Bobby,” but more important, 67-year-old Delene Bobby was remembered at her funeral Saturday as a community activist and champion of the disabled.

About 150 family members and friends gathered at Victory Baptist Church in Los Angeles to celebrate her impact on the community.

“There are people who don’t need glasses, canes or wheelchairs but yet don’t make anything out of their lives,” said the Rev. W. Edward Jenkins.

He and others pointed out that despite her own disabilities, Bobby was always helping others.

“Many of you could be in jail right now, or in your graves, but she stopped by you at one point in your life and made an impact,” he said.

An accident at age 7 left Bobby paralyzed from the neck down and in a wheelchair. Though she could not move her legs or even stretch out her arms, “she did for everyone else,” said her youngest sister, Phyllis Zakian.

“We have pictures of her being carried into classrooms,” Zakian said. Bobby earned her associate of arts degree in 1954 from Los Angeles City College. “She went to school, when the young people today who can walk are dropping out and going crazy,” Zakian said.

In 1976, Bobby founded the 98th Street Youth Organization to help troubled young people. The group sponsored such things as drill teams, block clubs and various holiday events. Each year, friends said, Bobby also saw to it that 15,000 needy families received Christmas trees, and she helped youths get summer employment.

“Miss Bobby raised me. I was 14 and walking around in the street and heard some drums,” said Regina Trammel-Byley, 30. “At that time, I became a member of the drill team and then co-director of the drill team with Miss Bobby.”

She said that what people remembered most about Bobby is her smile. “She was a small woman of power,” said Trammel-Byley, who works with abused children in North Hills.

In 1982, Bobby served as president of the city Commission for the Disabled and fought to help make disabled ramps a legal requirement in Los Angeles.

Born Dec. 15, 1930, in Maryetta, Texas, Bobby was the first of 10 children.

She died of natural causes at her home Tuesday and is survived by her mother, Tecumseh Murphy, and seven brothers and sisters. Bobby was laid to rest at Lincoln Memorial Park in Carson.

“She provided for so many folks,” Jenkins said. “I was often in awe of her knowledge. Delene had information at the tip of her fingertips. She used what she had to make an impact.”