Robert Clifton Robinson, Sr. Obituary (1921 - 2016)

Cumberland Foreside-Robert Clifton Robinson, 95, passed away on April 20, 2016, with his family at his side. He was followed by his wife, Lucille A. Robinson, who passed away six hours later. Born in Portland on January 24, 1921, Robert was the second of five children of Annie May Robinson and Fred Clifton Robinson. He grew up on Mitton Street in Portland and attended Portland High School. During the Great Depression, he worked at George C. Shaws Grocery Store, subsequently known as Shaws, the Peaks Island Bowling Alley, and the Todd Bath Shipyard as a pusher and ship-fitter. When war broke out in Europe, Robert served in the Army with the 188th Engineering Battalion. As first sergeant, he built bridges and cleared minefields in France and Germany. After the war, he studied economics at Boston College, returning to Maine in the summer to work as a grade foreman with road construction crews on Route 1. After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree, he remained in Boston to complete his law degree from Boston College Law School in 1952. It was at Boston College that he met Lucille Frenza who was pursuing her masters degree in nursing. They married and moved to Maine in 1952 where Robert founded a law firm on Exchange Street and was joined by his younger brother Freddie. In the mid-1960s, he formed a new firm with James Kriger which would become Robinson, Kriger, and McCallum. In the course of his fifty-year career as a lawyer, he practiced in state and district courts, the First Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. He was appointed by successive governors, Republican, Democratic, and Independent, as Maines representative for the National Conference of Commissioners for Uniform State Laws. As the General Council for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Robert brought together his two great passions: serving the law and the Church. In his capacity as a Catholic lawyer, he served as the State Advocate for the Knights of Columbus, General Counsel for the Bishop of Portland, and General Counsel for the Catholic Charities of Maine. With his brother Freddie, he organized a Red Mass, a medieval Catholic tradition marking the beginning of the legal year, which brought together Maines political and judicial communities: governors, judges, attorneys, clerks, and law students. In the late 1990s, Robert asked Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to speak at the annual Red Mass. Justice Scalia accepted, traveling to Maine, speaking before the group, and staying with Robert and Lucille at their house in Cumberland. For his service to the church, Robert twice received the pontifical honor of the Order of St. Gregory from Pope Pius and Pope John Paul II, the second coming with the rank of Knight Commander with Star. Robert was active in civic life as well, teaching as an instructor at the University of Maine School of Law, mediating cases for the American Arbitration Association, serving as a campaign manager for Maine governor John H. Reed, and serving the Cumberland town government in many capacities for thirty years. For all of his accomplishments, Robert cherished family life above all else. With his children, he tended to his vegetable garden, showed them how to fish lobster traps, and taught them woodworking. He also expressed his love through cooking: making bean-hole beans and potato hash on the weekends, packing sandwiches for his children when they went on trips, and, in later years, baking homemade pies, scones, and Irish bread for visiting children and in-laws. He had a booming, authoritative voice, one that commanded committee meetings and courtrooms. Yet his family knew him for his singing, harmonizing hymns at Mass, and his bright laughter which made everyone around him feel happy and safe. He is survived by his four children; Robert Jr. and his wife Molly, Maryann and her partner Chris Broadhurst, Mark and his wife Colleen, and Michael and his wife Michele Troy; his grandchildren, Gain, Sarah, Patrick, Margaret, Tess, Isabella, and Theodore; and many nieces and nephews. Visiting hours will be 4:00 - 8:00 PM, Friday, at Conroy-Tully Walker Funeral Home, 172 State Street, Portland. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 10:00 AM, Saturday, at Holy Martyrs Church, 266 Foreside Rd, Falmouth. Private burial will take place at Calvary Cemetery, South Portland. To view Roberts memorial page or offer condolences, visit, www.ConroyTullyWalker.com. Donations may be made in Roberts memory to: St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen, 307 Congress Street, Portland, Maine 04101, online at, www.portlandcatholic.org, or Catholic Charities of Maine Development Office, PO Box 10660, Portland, ME 04104-6060, online at www.ccmaine.org.