After a life of love and quiet grace, Robin "Regan" Stewart of Newark, DE has passed.
These are some of the moments and memories that shaped her story.
The work of a parent is rarely finished — it lives on in the children she loved.
Like the last note of a concert drifting off into the warm summer air, Robin "Regan" Neville Stewart has left this earth. Her song will play on forever in the hearts of her family and friends. On a scorching hot July 17, in 1952, Robin was born to Maurice Neville and Helen Davis Neville in Wilmington, Delaware. She was a shy child; introspective and imaginative from a young age. She loved singing, playing with her dolls, picking sour cherries in her backyard and then baking them into pies with her mother, and modeling for her father's paintings. She had a small wading pool in the summer she enjoyed with her brother, Jeff, although with him being 8 years older, he hung over the sides but loved spending time there with her nonetheless. In the winter, they built snowmen, and Robin had Jeff by her side to reach the top and place the snowmen's heads on top of their sparkling bodies. Even as a small child, music was a part of her soul.
While she was in high school, she and a couple of friends gave each other nicknames from Shakespeare's King Lear. She was named Regan and it stuck as her stage name for the rest of her life. Regan became more than her stage name, it was a moniker by which many of her friends would know her, without ever realizing it was not her given name.
Watching Peter, Paul and Mary, she learned to play the guitar and started performing in local coffeehouses. She joined a bluegrass band, Southbound, as the lead singer and began writing her own songs with beautiful skill that she revisited time and again through her life. After Robin graduated from Mount Pleasant High School in 1970, she spent a lot of time in Newark, where she met lifelong friends and continued to sing and write songs.
In 1978, she became a mother with the arrival of her daughter Beth, who she lovingly called Bethie. Three years later, she received a great surprise when she went to deliver her second child and came home with, not one, but two baby boys, Josh and Matt. Her devotion to her children was unwavering, and they always looked forward to being with her. She created unique opportunities to be connected to them by doing things like volunteering in the elementary school library, where they relished the opportunity to have her nearby while they were at school. She spent their entire childhood putting them first, creating magical holidays and making the best of everything. Life wasn't always easy but she had a knack for putting the fun in dysfunctional.
Robin met her husband, Nick, while visiting France with her daughter in 1997. They started chatting at an ice breaker dinner in Trouville-sur-Mer on Bastille Day and took a walk around the beach and down the quaint streets with fireworks going off around them. They married in April 1999. They enjoyed trips to New England, Skyline Drive and Australia to visit the Stewart family. Over the next decade she welcomed her children's spouses into their family with open arms. She never held back her praise for her family and her pride in her children and grandchildren, often saying she didn't know how she got so lucky.
After her children were grown, she dove back into her music. She had always continued to write and play music but at home or with friends. But after attending a reunion of the band Snake Grinder and the Shredded Field Mice, a flame had been rekindled. She started performing again and started a new band, The Jane Dean Band. Her Fridays became her cherished "studio" day. She put out two albums, reminding us all that you are never too grown-up to chase your dreams.
The crescendos of her life were those times she spent traveling, treasuring her family and adoring life's simple pleasures. The smell of lilacs, dogwood trees, gardening, a snowy day, the '93 Phillies, the annual Memorial Day party at the Bailey's, admiring the night sky, especially the moon, attending Rickie Lee Jones concerts, collecting "treasures" and rocks, a juicy ripe summer peach, Christmas festivities, a good cup of coffee, bird watching, and her pets; each one brought her tremendous joy. She loved to laugh and be silly with her family. If there was a wild hat or wacky headpiece to be worn, she put it on without question. She made delicious homemade soups and cookies. She was always late and was lovingly referred to as Snuffy. She could do the best witch's cackle of all time. She would break into song for any word you said. She was the maker of a melody of merriness.
Robin will carry on in the hearts of her family. She leaves behind her husband, Colin Nicholas Stewart; her older brother, Jeffrey (Rosemary) Neville; her children Beth (Wayne) Lineberry, Josh (Maggie) Thompson, and Matt (Lindsay) Thompson; her grandchildren, Alexandra Lineberry, George Thompson, Nora Thompson, Quinn Thompson, and Maisie Thompson; and a host of friends.
To honor Robin's passion for music, the family welcomes contributions to Save the Music by clicking here, in lieu of flowers.
A visitation for family and friends will be held from 10:00 am until 11:30 am on Friday, May 15, 2026, at Spicer-Mullikin Funeral Home, 121 West Park Place, Newark, DE, where a memorial service will begin at 11:30 am. Inurnment will be held privately. All are welcome to join the family at the Blue Crab Grill, 322 Suburban Drive, Newark, DE 19711, after the service for food and fellowship at 12:30 pm.
Spicer-Mullikin Funeral Homes & Crematory is honored to serve the family of Robin "Regan" Neville Stewart.
