Roy Robinson

So sorry to hear of Roy’s passing. He was truly one-of-a-kind. Roy had the unique gift of never having met a stranger. He knew everybody too. I was always amazed that no matter where we went Roy would run into someone he knew.

My Mother said life is a “collection of joyful moments”. Roy is part of many of the joyful moments in my life. A couple I think of often and still laugh about happened at Lake Ashtabula. He and I were fishing with my 3 big girls one afternoon and typical of Roy he is regaling us with his “Master Fisherman” stories. A good bit of exaggeration on his part and a good bit of eye rolling on my part. Mariah is sitting at the back of the pontoon kind of absentmindedly casting every few minutes. She is catching a walleye with about every other cast. The other girls are catching a few as well. Roy didn’t catch a fish. Not even a bullhead. All I heard the rest of the weekend was “uff da” in that gravelly voice of his.

There is a picture of Roy at the bar at Kelly’s Crossing with about a 6 pound wally he caught. That was another hilarious day. Roy hooked up with that fish and was convinced it was a bullhead. When he got it close enough to the boat to see I seriously thought he was going to either hyperventilate or have a coronary. He is telling me how to man the net and threatening me with bloody murder if I muffed it. We finally got it in the boat and I may be the only person on the planet to ever see Roy Robinson speechless.

Another day with Anthony and Jake he caught 2-3 fair size Northern. We had them in the live well and they were thrashing around a good bit. We kept the minnow bucket in that live well and when Roy opened the cover I flipped the switch that turned on the aerator. Anthony nearly had to grab him to keep him from jumping out of the boat. Roy cussed me for years over that. Many, many other stories. Among my most precious possessions.

So many memories. When it is all over and done that may be the most important thing we leave to our family and friends. Roy left all of us with many wonderful memories. I know I am forever grateful to Roy for being part of so many of the joyful moments in my life.

My deepest sympathy to Roy’s family and friends. I hope you are comforted by your memories. I take comfort in knowing that he and Jackie are together again and Hobbs has another buddy to play with.

D. Craig Sturm