October 10, 1924 – December 24, 2007Adam B. Robinson, 83, died at home on Monday, December 24, 2007. Born in Pine Bluff on October 10, 1924 to Adam and Emma Wilbourne Robinson, he was reared and received his early education in Pine Bluff, graduating from Pine Bluff High School in 1942. He attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville for one year before enlisting in the United States Army. He was assigned to the University of Mississippi for one year before serving in the Army field artillery as a forward observer in the Philippines in World War II.
He married Elizabeth “Betty” Fox on July 12, 1947 in Pine Bluff. After sixty years of marriage, his wife died one week before him.
Returning to Pine Bluff after his Army service, he joined his family funeral business, Ralph Robinson & Son, and its associate company, CoOperative Life Insurance Company, both of which he directed for over fifty years before his retirement.
Mr. Robinson was a retired director of both Simmons First National Corporation and Simmons First National Bank of Pine Bluff. He was a founding director of the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, a past chairman of the Greater Pine Bluff Chamber of Commerce, and served on the boards of directors of numerous civic and community organizations. He was a past director of what is now Selected Independent Funeral Homes, past president of the Arkansas Funeral Directors Association, and the recipient of numerous professional awards. He was a member and elder at First Presbyterian Church of Pine Bluff. He was a Mason, a Shriner, member of the Pine Bluff Rotary Club, and member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.
Survivors include his sons; Adam B. Robinson, Jr. and his wife, Anne, Spencer F. Robinson and his wife, Debbie, all of Pine Bluff; his daughter, Dr. Margaret Robinson Rutherford and her husband, Richard, of Fayetteville, Arkansas; five grandsons, Spencer F. Robinson, Jr., Daniel C. Robinson, A. Scott Robinson, William S. Robinson, and Robinson Philip Rutherford.
Services are Friday at 10:30 a.m. in the Sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church with the Reverend William Lee Kinney officiating. Interment will follow in Graceland Cemetery by Ralph Robinson & Son. The family will greet friends at 1203 West 35th in Pine Bluff from 3:00 to 8:00 p.m. Thursday.
The family requests memorials take the form of contributions to the Arts and Science Center Endowment Fund, 701 S. Main Street, Pine Bluff, Arkansas 71601, or to the First Presbyterian Church Endowment, 717 West 32nd, Pine Bluff, Arkansas 71603.
Visitation:
Thursday, Dec. 27, 2007 3:00 pm – 8:00 pm
1203 West 35th, Pine Bluff
Funeral Services:
Friday, Dec. 28, 2007 10:30 am
First Presbyterian Church, Pine Bluff