Disciples Divinity House

Alumnus Carl B. Robinson died in Ojai, California, on October 21 after a short illness. He was 95. His ministry was "person-centered" and consistently combined care for individual well-being and integrity with community-based action for the common good. He ministered with special distinction in Fresno, California, beginning in 1962 and continuing through many "retirement" years.

Carl Robinson was born February 6, 1918, in Iowa. His ministry began in 1938 when he was a business college student and accepted a call to serve the Mooresville, Missouri, Christian Church on a quarter-time basis; he began to serve two other congregations, each also part-time. The next year, he enrolled in Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri. He later recalled, "Even though Canton was 160 miles from these churches, I continued serving them for at least another year. On Saturdays, year around, I hitchhiked 160 miles to the churches, conducted services, visited a few folk, then took the train back to Canton Sunday nights."

In 1942, Carl and Esther were married. "By then I acquired a car and two congregations forty miles distant. These I served a full year following graduation and ordination [both in spring 1943]. In addition, that year I taught high school (commercial courses) and coached basketball; this was during World War II. In June 1944 we packed our car to go to Chicago where I enrolled in the Divinity School at the University of Chicago through the Disciples Divinity House." At that time, married men were ineligible for House scholarships, but Dean Ames decided to grant a provisional scholarship for the summer--which the dean later extended. Mr. Robinson graduated in September 1946, completing the three-year BD degree program in 27 months.

In 1962, after serving congregations in Missouri and in Iowa, he became the minister of Belmont Christian Church in Fresno. He was fired five and a half years later when some church leaders became unhappy with his involvement in community outreach--the Robinsons marched with Martin Luther King Jr and organized for low-income housing. Carl and Esther Robinson and others then started the Fresno House Church. In 1968, Mr. Robinson became the first chaplain at Fresno Community Hospital, where he established a chaplaincy training program and an interfaith seminar; when he retired in 1983, three chaplains were hired to replace him. In 1970, the Robinsons founded the Fresno Metro Ministry, which relied on volunteers and worked through existing groups to address gaps in community services and to advocate for those in need. He served as a board member of many other church, religious, social justice, and civic organizations. In 2005, Fresno Metro Ministry, together with the Interfaith Alliance of Central California and the Fresno Ministerial Association, established the Carl and Esther Robinson Award for the Common Good.

In 1998, reflecting back over his ministry, he wrote: "Personal relationships formed over the years makes sixty years of ministry incredibly rich. We [Carl and Esther] continue to embrace the Gospel which implicitly focuses on individuals as persons worthy of love, respect, fair and just treatment at all times." Carl Robinson lived a long, richly related life. The Disciples Divinity House and his DDH classmates were among those who enjoyed long and faithful friendships with him. Chuck Blaisdell, former Regional Minister in Northern California and Nevada, commented, "Carl could always make you feel like you were the only person in the room, the only reason that he came to the gathering. Every Regional Minister needs a handful of folks who both bless and support his or her ministry, but also who will always 'speak the truth in love,' with gentle honesty and offer perspective and suggestions and constructive criticism. Carl was such a one for me and I am the better for it."

He is survived by Esther Robinson, with whom he celebrated 71 years of marriage in September, by daughter Jean Robinson, and by daughter JoAnn Robinson and son-in-law David Bean and their son Donovan Robinson.