Subscribe
Community
Lifelong resident Robinson dies at 101
Served 48 years as town treasurer
Friday, June 26, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Robinson
|
E-Mail This Article
A lifelong Calvert County resident well known in North Beach, Thelma Soper Robinson, died at 101 on June 21, leaving a legacy of continuing service to her community.
Robinson was a charter member of the North Beach Volunteer Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary and its oldest living member. Clara Mae Buckmaster, past president of North Beach and Maryland State volunteer fire department ladies auxiliaries, said, "She was a dedicated worker and contributed so much for North Beach. Plus, she was active in her church. She could tell you so many stories about the Beach.
"She was a very kind and generous person and she passed that on to her girls," Buckmaster said, referring to Robinson's five daughters.
Calvert County Commissioner Barbara Stinnett echoed the same, calling Robinson "gracious, caring, attractive and meticulous," adding, "She set a good example and raised a wonderful family."
Mark Frazer, mayor of North Beach from 1998 to 2006, said, "I feel very fortunate to have known her. We lost a true dedicated public servant who loved North Beach." With the older residents of the town, "Thelma had become a legend in her own time," he said. Her daughter Betty Freesland served as town clerk under Frazer and her grandson, Billy Freesland, is chief of North Beach Volunteer Fire Department, Frazer said, adding that the family's service to the town has been invaluable.
Billy Freesland said Robinson "was sharp as a whip" to the end until she had a stroke last Saturday. She was living at home the entire time, he added.
Born in 1907 in Willows, a community next to Breezy Point, Robinson, who married David Kern Robinson of Barstow in 1926, served as treasurer for the town of North Beach for nearly 50 years.
North Beach Mayor Michael Bojokles said when North Beach Volunteer Fire Department held a 100th birthday party for Robinson in 2007, "she was in great shape. ... She was just amazing. We honor her for her 48 years of service and dedication to the town of North Beach," Bojokles said. Robinson was town treasurer for 48 consecutive years after first being elected to the position in 1942, he said. She retired in 1990.
At one time, Thelma Robinson and Louis Goldstein were the longest serving elected officials in Maryland, said Randy Hummel, a North Beach council member for 14 years.
"Her and Louis battled that out, but she won out on that," Billy Freesland said.
Hummel, who served as council member during the last few years while Robinson was treasurer, said, "she was a very conscientious treasurer."
She served as treasurer before there was a town hall and residents had to go to her house to pay taxes and sewer bills, he said.
"She could tell you who owned what building and what it was years ago," Hummel said.
The Maryland Municipal League (MML) has it in the works to induct Robinson into its elected officials Hall of Fame this year, he said. And she has been recognized by MML for a lifetime of achievement. Around 2000, the town recognized her and dedicated the historic home on Dayton Avenue, which is now Bayside History Museum, to her, Frazer said.
Robinson was educated in Calvert County public schools and moved to North Beach in 1933.
