Baker City, Oregon
Maj. Johnnie Grover Robinson, 83, a longtime Baker City resident of Baker City died April 5, 2003, at Valley View Retirement Center in Boise.
His funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at the Baker City Salvation Army Church on Estes Street. Maj. Daniel Hudson of The Salvation Army Midland Divisional Headquarters in St. Louis, Mo., will conduct the service. Vault interment will be at Mount Hope Cemetery
Visitations for Major Robinson will be until 7 o’clock tonight at Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St.
Maj. Robinson was born on Sept. 12, 1919, at Fort Mill, S.C., a son of John and Flonnie Reed Yandle Robinson. He was raised at South Carolina and after his schooling served in the U.S. Marine Corps.
While still serving in the Marine Corps he met his bride-to-be, Irene, and brought her to his church home: The Salvation Army at Rock Hill, S.C. They were married on June 27, 1944.
Together, they felt God’s call on their lives to serve him as officers in The Salvation Army. They both attended The Salvation Army’s School for Officers Training in Atlanta, Ga., and were commissioned as lieutenants, and ordained as Salvation Army officers (ministers) on June 4, 1951.
They served in the following appointments in the Southern Territory: Lubbock, Littlefield, Houston, Harlingen, Lufkin, Freeport and Texarkana, Texas. After transferring to the Western Territory in June of 1977, they served in Pocatello, Idaho and Baker City.
Also during their length of service they had a great love for children, and because they saw the great need, shared their home and family and became foster parents to more than 27 children. Even after retirement in Baker City, their service to the Lord did not end.
They served as interim officers in the Central Territory at Cape Girardeau and Kirksville, Mo., and at International Falls, Minn. They also served with a Work and Witness team from the Baker City Church of the Nazarene in building and repairing schools and churches. The traveled twice to Nicaragua and once to Guatemala.
Maj. Robinson was a member of the Baker Rotary Club.
Survivors include his children, Elzena Robinson-Gray of Boise, Eugene A. Farrar of Porter, Texas, William W. Farrar of Pocahontas, Ark., Rolland L. Farrar of Porter, Texas, and Maj. Martha A. Hudson of St. Louis, Mo.; sisters, Ella Mae West of Rock Hill, S.C., and Ola Bell Rich of Corpus Christi, Texas; a brother, Jimmie Robinson of Rock Hill, S.C.; 14 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Irene Robinson; his parents; and three brothers and one sister.
Memorial contributions may be made to The Salvation Army through Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St., Baker City, OR 97814.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, April 11, 2003
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor