Pastor recalled for his love of people

In the last year of his life, the Rev. Calvin William Robinson of Prospect Heights was visited daily by friends and family.

Whether Rev. Robinson was at his house, in a hospital or at a nursing home, people would stop by just to say hello, said his daughter, Judy Brock, of Pasadena, Calif.

"The visitors had to almost pick a number because he was so popular," Brock said. "The nursing home told us they'd never seen anyone who had so many visitors."

Rev. Robinson died at his home Monday after a lengthy battle with leukemia. He was 82.

Rev. Robinson had spent the last two decades in Prospect Heights after he retired from his ministry at First United Methodist Church in Palatine in 1986.

He was regarded as a fun-loving, gregarious sort who loved people, never missing an opportunity for small talk with anyone he'd meet.

"He was the proverbial people person," said his daughter, Janet Boggs, also of Pasadena, Calif. "He was friendly to everyone -- at a restaurant, at a store or at the mechanic's. He loved to be with people."

It was this love of people that drew him to his ministry.

After he graduated from Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston in the 1950s, he served as a student assistant at the Park Ridge Methodist Church and then became the youth pastor.

He moved onto the First United Methodist Church of Glenview in 1955, staying until 1972, serving as senior pastor. He finished his career at First United Methodist Church in Palatine.

Rev. Robinson grew up in Cincinnati before attending a nearby college. He dropped out to join the Army in 1943.

After a stint in the military, he met his future wife, Betty Smith, while he attended San Jose State University.

The pair raised four kids -- three girls and one boy -- in Glenview.

During his career, he'd lived in homes provided him by the churches that he worked for. So it was quite a treat for Rev. Robinson when he moved into his own home in Prospect Heights.

"He just loved his home," Boggs said. "It was the first home he'd ever picked out himself."

At 2 p.m. Saturday, a funeral service celebrating his life will be held at the First Presbyterian Church of Arlington Heights, 302 N. Dunton St. A reception in the parlor will follow the service.