Robinson completes 30 years of service for senior citizens

It was an undertaking of some proportions to create a hat that would symbolize the myriad jobs of Debra Robinson.

But create it, they did, says Nancy Rowlett, business manager of the Conway Senior Citizens Center where plaudits attended a Friday celebration for Robinson who is completing her 30th year of service in the Senior Citizens Program of Faulkner County, holding down the post of executive director of the Donaghey Avenue facility as its executive director.

The hats allude to the many roles Robinson has filled since she arrived at the center as a new graduate of Greenbrier High School, with few skills to stand on. In the fullness of time she has served the center as driver, janitor, plumber, counselor, waitress, secretary, cook and friend and administrator.

Her personable stance has been the glue that has made the Conway center and others in the county havens for seniors who depend on them for sustenance and entertainment. To say she is well liked is not at all accurate. She is adored.

All this was evident at a luau Friday when she was lauded and applauded for her work in fashioning veritable refuges for the elderly in Conway, Greenbrier, Mayflower, Twin Groves and Vilonia.

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State Sen. Gilbert Baker, a member of the center's board of directors, was on hand to present a citation to Robinson signed by the Arkansas State Senate, a citation that reflects her work with the elderly.

"We are supposed to honor those who do well and serve others, and that's what we re doing here today, and as I reflect back to see what she has done over the years, expanding the program all over the county and helping seniors, it is important to step up and say 'well done.'"

She was a reluctant candidate when she was named to head up operations of the center, Rowlett said. "But she has done a marvelous job over the years, taking a facility that claimed a budget of about $70,000 some 30 years ago and expanding it to a budget of $800,000 today."

Robinson arrived at the center in response to an advertisement seeking a secretary. Her work turned on perfunctory tasks that evidently were not satisfactory. She left, was hired on at the S.A.S. shoe factory nearby and remained in its employ for a time. But when she was sought out to return to the center as director, greed and found her niche in short order.

The creation of senior citizen centers in the county can be attributed to Robinson's zeal for the program designed to give aid and comfort to elderly folk. Providing congregate meals to seniors able to visit the centers and promoting the Meals on Wheels effort where meals are delivered to people unable to leave their homes, have been the hallmarks of her administration.

The effort of the centers is translated into 100,000 home delivered meals during a year's time and more than 40,000 congregate meals over the same period. About 1,800 people are served during the year.

Seniors and others turned out en masse for her recognition event and to hear words of approbation fill the center's main hall, Several people who make the center their veritable second home set the tone of the appreciation meeting, including Elisa Key, Peggy Sturgis, Ann McIntire, Genell Epley, Joe Ed Woodward, Virgie Tsuda and Shirley Baum.

Sturgis offered a heart-felt tribute, describing Robinson as a "person who gets down in the trenches and does whatever needs to be done. If you know her, you already know she always has a positive attitude; her attributes could go on through the entire alphabet, and she would be positive in every category. For this and more, we love her and appreciate her."

Even though overcome with emotion, Robinson was able to tell the throng that she loves every moment of the time she serves at the center. "It's nice to be able to come to work and enjoy everything you do," she said. "I was surprised and honored and I appreciate everyone of you. I'm not going to say I hope to do it 30 more years, but I still hope I've got a few more good years in me And I hope you will want me to stay."

Special people singled out in the audience were Monica Strack, who at 103 years of age continues to enjoy the social life at the center, and Tonie Landers, 87, who recalls being the first director of the center in 1976.