Robbie Cheatham dies; one of 24 Black Deaf students who attended Kendall School Division II

Robbie D. Cheatham, a 1956 alumna of Kendall School, passed away on December 20, 2022. She was one of the 24 Black Deaf students who attended Kendall School Division II from 1952 to 1954.

Robbie Delores Cheatham was born on November 11, 1936 in Edgewood, South Carolina. Her family moved to Washington, D.C. when she was six years old. She lived for 80 years in the family home on Eighth Street Northwest. After graduating from Kendall School, she became a tax examiner with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. She retired after 38 years of government service.

According to her family, Ms. Cheatham  lived her life with dignity and purpose. She was a devoted mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother; a retired federal employee, and a proud member of the Black Deaf community – especially the 24 Black Deaf children who attended Kendall School Division II and their immediate and extended families. Ms. Cheatham is memorialized on the existing Kendall School Division II memorial plaque in front of Gallaudet’s Kellogg Conference Hotel, and will be memorialized again in the planned Louise B. Miller Memorial Pathways and Gardens: A Legacy to Black Deaf Children.

Funeral services were held on January 11 at Shiloh Baptist Church in Northwest Washington.