Deborah T. Roberts

Deborah Train Roberts, wife of Dr. Richard B. Roberts, passed away peacefully on Friday, December 12, 2025, in Peterborough, New Hampshire, with her husband and her brother by her side. She was 87 years old.

Born Deborah Train Smith on January 17, 1938, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, she was the daughter of Russell Train Smith, who was the Head of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for twenty five years and the founder of the art department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Deborah was a direct descendent of the revolutionary war General Benjamin Lincoln, the granddaughter of Broadway actor Henry J. Hadfield and the grandniece of Florence Gill of the Disney Studios.

Deborah received her early education at Shady Hill School in Cambridge, MA, followed by high school at Milton Academy, and graduated summa cum laude from Smith College with a degree in religion. She continued her studies in religious drama at Union Theological Seminary in New York while studying acting with Mira Rostova and later with John Strasberg.

Deborah devoted her life to the dramatic arts, following in the footsteps of her maternal grandparents and her mother. Deborah’s career was marked by passion, generosity, and a deep belief in the transformative power of theater. She served for many years as Head of the Drama Department at the Kaplen JCC in Tenafly, New Jersey, where she inspired countless young people to discover confidence, creativity, and the magic she believed lived within everyone. In 2019, she and Richard retired to New Hampshire, where she had spent her summers since she was a young girl apprenticing at the Peterborough Players. She earned her Actors’ Equity card playing Anne Frank’s sister in The Diary of Anne Frank at The Peterborough Players.

Deborah is survived by her husband, Richard B. Roberts; her brother, Henry F. Smith; her children, Bryan E. Roberts, Gwyneth B. Roberts, Hannah L. Miller and five grandchildren. She will be remembered as a devoted wife, a loving mother and sister, an inspiring teacher, and a woman of warmth, intellect, and enduring grace.

A Memorial Service will be held at All Saints Episcopal Church, 51 Concord St, Peterborough, on Saturday, January 24, at 1:00 p.m., with a reception to follow at her son’s home in Jaffrey, New Hampshire.

In lieu of flowers, family and friends are invited to make contributions in Deborah’s memory to the Apprenticeship Program at The Peterborough Players, P.O. Box 118, Peterborough, NH 03458, or by going to their website at (https://www.peterboroughplayers.org/fundthefuture.html), honoring her lifelong dedication to the arts and the joy she found in nurturing creativity in others.