AUBURN — The descriptions at trial of Kimberly Dobbie’s devotion to her twin 11-year-old sons, focusing on their needs as she navigated the hardships of temporary homelessness, came as no surprise to her family, said her uncle, Robert Patterson of Connecticut.

Dobbie, who would have turned 50 this year, was “a caring mother, adored her boys,” he said. “She was a protector of her boys.”

That was her mission right up to the moment she was stabbed to death by Albert Flick of Auburn on July 15, 2018, outside a Lewiston laundromat.

Patterson remembered Dobbie, who held a certificate in early childhood education, as “a free spirit, always smiling, happy.”

When his sister, Susan, arrived in Boston on business with her 2-week-old daughter, Kimberly, Patterson, who was enrolled at college there, first baby sat his tiny niece in his college apartment. To this day, he remembers her as “a good kid.”

Patterson sat with his wife this week in the front row of the Androscoggin County Superior Courtroom, watching as Flick, the 77-year-old man who stabbed Dobbie to death was convicted of intentional or knowing murder.

“We miss Kim,” Patterson said.

Not surprised by the guilty verdict, which Patterson called a “no-brainer,” he said the jury made up its mind quickly.

Pleased with the result, Patterson said the prosecutor and his team did a good job of laying out the facts of the case.

A former newspaper photographer, Patterson said he was familiar with the courtroom setting, which helped in sitting through the judicial proceedings.

In the months leading up to the trial, Patterson said he and his sister were eager to put the ordeal behind them.

“I think we both wanted it to be done and over with and let’s move on,” he said.

His sister, who lives in Massachusetts, is caring for her grandsons, who have turned 12.

“She’s doing fine things with the boys,” he said. “The boys are in school. They’re doing fine. She’s doing well. They’ve moved on. The boys have been processing things out.”

Patterson said he and his wife took a trip to Lewiston about a month after Kim’s death.

They visited the crime scene and the makeshift memorial for her.

“It was nice to see she was loved in life by others,” he said.