Robin Kicks Cancer: 'Wonder Woman' labored tirelessly to assist others

By Yamil Berard

FORT WORTH -- After Robin Maness Thayer dressed as Wonder Woman for a party in the 1980s, the nickname stuck, and not only because she was 6 feet tall and had striking eyes and screen-siren hair.

Mrs. Thayer was a super hero because of her tireless energy on behalf of the community, family and friends said Monday.

"Hey, Wonder Woman, get out your magic rope" was among the messages on Mrs. Thayer's Facebook page after she learned last year that she had liver cancer.

"She just loved helping people, and she did it with so much joy," said professional golfer Angela Stanford, who coached Mrs. Thayer's daughter at Trinity Valley School.

Mrs. Thayer, 52, a member of the first TCU women's basketball team, died Sept. 20. Her funeral was Saturday.

She was born July 8, 1958, in Inglewood, Calif., to the late Robert and Margaret Maness. She graduated from Bedford Junior High School, L.D. Bell High School and Texas Christian University.

She met Mike Thayer, who is 6-foot-6, when he was playing with the Fort Worth Rugby Club. After two weeks of dating, the couple became engaged in 1983, although she had been dating another rugby player. "When you know, you know," he said.

It was typical, he said, for her to organize fundraisers for the needy. When their children attended Tanglewood Elementary School, for example, she organized a blood drive for a crossing guard with sickle-cell disease. That blood drive continues today, family and friends said.

Mrs. Thayer was a tireless band booster at Paschal High School and Trinity Valley School, and served on the board of the Angela Stanford Foundation.

One year for the city's Parade of Lights, she personally outfitted the entire Paschal band with purple Santa hats and decorative glow lights for each instrument.

"She was so generous with her time and with other people," said childhood friend Tracy Sterling Bristol. "She was gregarious and friendly. Even if you were meeting Robin for lunch, she'd never be alone. She always had with her an entourage of people."

Phyllis Kwedar, another friend, said Mrs. Thayer was a role model for her children. In letters, Kwedar's children, now in their late 20s, described Mrs. Thayer as "a woman who had been a rock" to them.

The Thayer family suggests memorial donations to the Angela Stanford Foundation, Box 1006, Fort Worth, TX 76114.

Other survivors include a daughter, Elizabeth Thayer; a son, Max Thayer; and a sister, Becky Oder.