The Robbins Nest: The Most Amazing Man I Didn't Know Well Enough

My most favorite gift that we gave this Christmas was a book. It was a very special book about Lance's dad's life. It was written for Ryder and his cousin Isaac, Lance's sister Lesley's little boy, so they could grow up reading it and know all about their grandpa who is no longer with us. In writing the book, I was reminded at just how amazing his life was. I wanted to write it in a blog so anyone that wanted to could read about how great Ron Robbins was.
Ronald Leroy Robbins was born November 21, 1946 in Kansas. He did not have an easy childhood, as his mother had left him and his siblings at a very young age. He lived for a year with his grandmother, then after that him and his siblings lived in an orphan home. His dad got remarried, got all the kids back together, and moved to Texas. His family moved around a lot in Texas because of his dad's job. Once Ron graduated High School, he worked at a General Electric plant on an assembly line for a year. Then he decided he needed to go to college and enrolled in Lubbock Christian College. He completed two years there, and then transferred to Harding University in Arkansas and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Bible. After graduation, he went to Harding Graduate School and got his masters degree in Religion. While doing his masters studies, Ron and his friend Gary began travelling to India in the Summers to teach Bible classes to preachers and anyone else that was interested in learning about the Bible.
After getting his masters degree in religion, he was not done. He then wanted to get his masters degree in Education and moved to Denton, Texas to do so at UNT. While in school in Denton, he was a youth minister at a local Church of Christ.
In 1974, Ron visited a church called Pearl Street Church of Christ, and decided to go to a Bible class there. In this Bible class sat Debbie, Lance's mom. Debbie said that when Ron and his friend walked in, all the girls in the class were deciding which boy they thought was the cutest. Debbie picked Ron of course. Debbie was dating another boy at the time who went to Texas A&M, and she wore that boy's ring to show they were together. But Ron told her that one day he'd get that ring off of her finger. And when she finally came to church without that ring on because her and Texas A&M boy had broken up, Ron began dating her. At this time Debbie was a sophomore in college and Ron was 28.
While Debbie was finishing school, Ron started teaching Psychology at Tarrant County Junior College. On November 21, 1975, on Ron's 29th birthday, he proposed to Debbie. They got married on May 29, 1976. They had a lot of fun their first two years of marriage. They had a sail boat and would go sailing every weekend. At this time Ron was still teaching at TCJC and Debbie was working as a nurse at JPS Hospital.
On November 8, 1980, Lance's sister, Lesley, was born! When she was 8 months old, Ron's friend Gary wanted to expand the ministry into Calcutta, India. He needed someone to live there to do this. Since Ron had visited there before, he asked Ron if he would go and he said yes. Ron, Debbie and Lesley packed up and moved to Calcutta. Ron and Debbie taught Bible classes there and established the Calcutta Church of Christ. It is crazy to hear the stories that Debbie tells about living in India. They had to make a lot of sacrifices, and I know it's something I could never have done.  They lived in a communist area in India, and the government was constantly following them around and reading their mail. They were only there on a visitor's visa, so they would have to leave every three months, renew their visa, and then re enter. One day, government officials came to their house and told them that they had to leave. So they packed, went to Bangladesh for three months, then went back. But after being back there only a few days, they were spotted and asked to leave again. This time they knew they had to leave for good.
Ron and Debbie wanted to continue God's work somewhere else, and Seoul, South Korea was suggested to them. They arrived in South Korea and started going to language school and working with the congregation at a church there. They worked there for three yeras and also worked with a church on the army base there. Ron would teach services at the churches and both Ron and Debbie taught Bible and English classes. Ron and Debbie eventually found a building to rent and started a Bible College there. Lesley was a small child and was fluent in Korean. Lance was also born in Korea in 1985.  Oh...here is just one thing I should add...Debbie had both Lesley and Lance with no pain medicine. I know this is so random, but I just can't believe it!
Debbie began to have back problems, and she tried everything she could while there to make them better. Nothing seemed to work, and in 1989, Ron and Debbie thought it would be best to come back home to Texas.
Settling back in the US after being in other countries for so long was difficult financially. Ron wanted Debbie to stay home with the kids, so he did everything possible to keep them afloat. He sometimes had three jobs at a time and worked at places like 7 eleven and the airport. He worked for a little while as an insurance agent for Physicians Mutual where he was the top seller both years he was there.  From what everyone has said and from videos I've seen, Ron was extremely personable and could relate to everyone really well. Lance is very much like this and can make friends with anyone.  He gets it from his dad!
While working these jobs, Ron decided he needed to get his teaching certificate so he could teach in public schools. He had his masters in education, but had not been certified to teach yet. Once he got his certification, he taught at Seagoville HS, and taught a class of emotionally disturbed students for two years. These students loved him so much that they kept in touch with Ron even after he left. He had to leave Seagoville HS because it was just too far of a drive from home.   Luckily, he got a job at Bedford Junior High where he taught special ed. In 1999-2000 school year, Ron received Teacher of the Year honors. I could only imagine what an amazing teacher he must have been.
Lance and I had gone to HS together, but didn't really know each other well, and when we started dating in August of 2006, he had just found out that his dad had pancreatic cancer. He had been having some stomach pains, and he had previously went and had a full pancreatic scan and the doctors missed the cancer. They were doing surgery to take out his Gallbladder, because that was what they thought was causing the pain, only to discover that he had a tumor in his pancreas.
I only got to be around Lance's dad a handful of times, and I never got to experience him 100% because of his illness. But I remember the first time that I ever met him. I went to Lance's house, and it was my first time to ever go there. I got out of my car, hoping I was at the right place, and Lance's dad was outside. I got out and said something like, "Hi...I'm Taylor...I'm looking for Lance." And he told me I was in the right place and gave me a big hug. I will always remember how he hugged me the second he met me.
Ron passed away on February 12, 2007. It was a very difficult thing for the entire family. I think God put me in Lance's life right when he did so I could be there for him as he went through the loss of his father. I have a lot of questions that I will want to ask when I stand before God, and one of them will be why he took Ron from this earth. Ron only made the world better. I know God has a reason for everything, and I know things happen that we do not understand.  And I, in no way, am angry with God or questioning his control and plan. Ron just did SO much good. For example, there was a lady who worked as a teacher aid at one of the schools Ron worked at, and she was less fortunate. Ron would do anything he could to help her. One time, she had car trouble, and she had no way of getting to school on her own. Ron went and bought an old car with his own money, fixed it up, and gave it to her. He did this just because that's the kind of person he was, and he wanted nothing in return. Lance tells me stories all the time about how his dad would pick up old washers and dryers off the road that people were getting rid of, fix them, and then give them to people that needed them. I would give anything to have had more time with Ron and to have known him before he got sick. But even not knowing him as well as I would have liked, after hearing all the wonderful things that I have about him, I am so inspired by him. I admire him whole heartedly. I am so glad that Ryder had such a wonderful grandfather that we can tell him about. I hope you enjoyed reading a very "cliff note" story about his life, and I hope that somehow you can feel as moved as I do when I hear/read about the amazing things Ron did in his life. God gained a lot on February 12, and I hope that we are all making Ron proud down here.
Here are a few pictures...

Ron as a child...