'Always willing to help someone:' Family, community remembers Indy Parks' Abie Robinson
If you knew, worked with or even met Abie Robinson, it's likely you have a "love rock."
Robinson was known for painting the stones with phrases or pictures to spread encouragement. He would carry them in his pockets to hand out "as a little way of spreading more love around," his son, Tariq Robinson, told IndyStar.
"That's who he was," Tariq said, "someone with the biggest heart and wanting to see others do well."
Robinson, a former Indy Parks employee and longtime Indianapolis resident, died Wednesday at the age of 77.
Robinson is survived by his wife of nearly 43 years, Linda, their children Tariq, Aliya and Cameron and grandchildren Jeremiah and Joshua, as well as many nieces, nephews, friends and those he was a father figure to along the way.
One thing he'll remember about his father, Tariq said, was his ability to be present with whoever he was with at the time, fully invested in their time together.
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"He was there for all the weddings, all the birthdays, all the things that you want to look back on and reflect on who was there," Tariq said, "and his face was always right there."
'A super-natural power'
Abie Robinson was born Dec. 29, 1944, in Indianapolis. He was a middle child, the only boy, smack-dab in the middle of six sisters.
Robinson was an inquisitive, curious child who loved to read, Tariq said. He attended John Hope School No. 26, now the Oaks Academy, and went to Arsenal Technical High School. After graduating, he joined the Navy. He fought in the Vietnam War and returned in 1967, according to a bio Robinson wrote in 2017 that was provided to IndyStar.
"(He) ended up getting to travel the world and see a lot of places that he had read about, just wondered about," Tariq said.
After he returned, Robinson witnessed a major historical event. Robinson was 24 years old when he attended Sen. Robert Kennedy's speech in Indianapolis on April 4, 1968, the day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.
Witnessing Kennedy's speech, in the wake of an emotional, tragic event, ignited in Robinson a commitment to service. That's how he lived his life.
"That night, Senator Kennedy's words set forth a ripple of hope in him to love more, to show more compassion, more empathy and more understanding," Darryl Lockett, executive director of the Kennedy King Memorial Initiative, said.
It was a pivotal moment not just in the history of Indianapolis and the U.S., but in Robinson's life, too.
"I believe it was a super-natural power, which caused us not to respond in lawlessness, but to hold true to the non-violence principles and ideas that were the benchmark of Martin Luther King's legacy," Robinson later wrote.
The speech, coupled with King's murder, elicited strong emotions.
"He speaks of it saying that, of course, he was angry," Lockett said. "Of course he was upset. But in listening to those words and just thinking back on his life, he needed to find something that he could do to improve upon the situation."
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A 'full-circle' moment
Kennedy's speech would continue to play an influential role in his life.
Robinson would go on to attend what's now the Herron School of Art & Design at IUPUI.
He was a deacon at Eastern Star Church in Indianapolis, the church where he was baptized. He taught classes to young couples and new church members. Through Eastern Star, Robinson was involved with missions to Liberia, sending everything from supplies and medicine to an old computer and traveling to the country.
Robinson worked in the printing industry for years before returning to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park as Indy Parks' senior programs coordinator.
Before joining Indy Parks in 2007, he worked as homeless prevention coordinator for Forest Manor Multi Service Center, where he served in partnership with Kennedy King Park Center, located at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park to provide programming. He retired from Indy Parks last year, Ronnetta Spalding, the department's chief communications officer, said.
Robinson's return to the place where the speech took place, now home to the Landmark for Peace, represented a "full-circle" moment for him, Lockett said.
Lockett said Robinson's testimony from being there firsthand was invaluable. The two traveled to schools and libraries sharing the story of that day.
"Abie became sort of a gem or a resource for us to make real this history, make real this special moment in Indianapolis, when it wasn't included in the curriculum of our public or private schools," Lockett said.
In 2019, the Kennedy King Memorial Initiative was awarded the $100,000 Change Maker grant from Impact 100. Robinson was "the centerpiece" of the proposal, despite not being a board member or paid staff member, Lockett said.
With the money, the Kennedy King Park Center was refurbished. A large room inside the park center became the cultural visitor center of the Kennedy King Memorial Initiative.
"He is intimately connected to just the progress that as an organization, the Kennedy King Memorial Initiative has had, and our ability to share this story with future generations here in Indianapolis," Lockett said.
Planting the seeds — literally
In addition to his work, he also volunteered with the Harrison Center, helping with the center's PreEnact Theater, which stages scenes of a neighborhood as it should be — equitable, just and thriving economically.
For the theater, Robinson helped set up a roller rink and taught kids how to skate. That's how Harrison Center Executive Director Joanna Taft sees him in her mind: roller skating.
"I just see him smiling and roller skating and being such a kind and great leader in our neighborhood," Taft said.
Robinson was also named a Harrison Center Greatriarch, which are "people that help write the story of their neighborhood," Taft said. He did so by inviting others into the story and sharing his own with them.
"We need to remember that Abie planted these seeds, and that we need to nurture them and we need to continue sowing that joy and encouragement in the community," Taft said.
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Robinson was unselfish by nature, former Indy Parks employee Ellery Manuel, said. Once, Robinson's wife, Linda, asked Manuel to help throw him a surprise party.
"I kind of used Abie and his ambitions and unselfishness to do anything you would ask of him to be successful, so I told him I was having a party for myself," Manuel said.
Robinson gave Manuel advice on party planning and even set up the party room. When he walked in later with his wife, his family and many close friends were there.
"The room was packed," Manuel said. "He walked in and we gave him a big surprise. The look on his face, he was just totally outdone."
He also managed the plots at the Mayor's Garden on North Tibbs Avenue, Spalding said, and grew his own produce there, too.
"He would be out there several times a day, just whether it was hoeing the ground or weeding or harvesting," Tariq said. "That was his happy place."
He would bring food to people often, Tariq said, whether it was friends and neighbors or their optometrist, "just passing out goodness." Once, he stopped by Lockett's house, overalls and all, with a bag of green vegetables, spoils from working in the garden.
"We had so many extras," Robinson told Lockett.
'The positive flow'
One of Robinson's favorite phrases was, "Stay in the positive flow," meaning, focusing on the good and putting good into the world. That's how he lived his life, his son said.
Tariq said his father firmly believed in the power of each person to make a difference.
"He always looked for the positive, always wanted to do good, to do right by people," he said.
Even as he became ill at the end of his life, Tariq said, he was still as giving as ever. At one of his last doctor's appointments, his father offered to carry boxes for someone struggling to open the door, even though he was using a wheelchair.
"He was always, always willing to help someone, even in his last moments," Robinson said. "To say, we're gonna be alright, we're gonna do this together."
Robinson was deeply focused on the idea that we only have a little time on this Earth, but his faith gave him strength, Tariq said.
"He was very much one to ensure that those whom he loved were cared for, were OK, were going to be OK," Tariq said.
His legacy and love for others will live on through his family, friends and community, Tariq said. And of course, the love rocks.
"How often do we just walk through rocks or throw rocks, but to put what he considered just an expression of love into that, and then passing that on to someone else," Lockett said. "... He wanted to spread love and give love away."
IndyStar reporter Rachel Fradette contributed to this story.
Contact IndyStar trending reporter Claire Rafford at crafford@gannett.com or on Twitter @clairerafford.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Abie Robinson, former Indy Parks employee, dies at 77
