Dorothy ROBINS

Dorothy
Mar 18, 1929 - Jan 9, 2015

Frank Edward III
Dec 27, 1928 - Aug 29, 2009

*Obituary

Frank E. Robins III, former publisher of the Log Cabin Democrat and a longtime Conway business and civic leader, died Saturday, August 29, 2009, at home.
Mr. Robins, 80, retired in 1994 after 35 years as owner-publisher of the newspaper, bringing to an end four generations of family ownership of Faulkner County's oldest business.

A lifelong Conway resident, Mr. Robins was born Dec. 27,1928, a son of Frank E. Robins Jr. and Virginia Warren Robins. A graduate of Conway High School in 1945, he attended Arkansas State Teachers College and graduated in 1949 with a degree in music from Hendrix College. He was a member of First United Methodist Church in Conway, where he was a member of the Dorothy Robins Light Sunday School Class and a pianist for the class. Previously he was a pianist of the Men's Bible Class at First United Methodist Church. He recently received the Arkansas Press Association Distinguished Service Award in July of 2009. Mr. Robins had previously served as the Arkansas Press Association President in 1974. He was a member of both the Conway High School and Arkansas State Teachers College football teams. He was a member of Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity, and received the Sigma Tau Gamma Laney Award in 2007. He was also a member of the Arkansas Woodworker's Society.

Mr. Robins was an Air Force veteran of the Korean War, achieving the rank of second lieutenant. His civic and professional achievements are many, including having served 23 years on the Conway Corporation Board of Directors, the last 21 of those as its chairman. He served on Conway's first Planning Commission in the early 1950s and on the Oak Grove Cemetery Association Board in the 1960s. He also served on the University of Central Arkansas Foundation Board and helped establish the Faulkner County Museum. He was a past president of the Conway Rotary Club and served on the boards of First State Bank and Trust Co. and Worthen National Bank of Conway.

Long recognized as a state and regional leader in journalism circles, Mr. Robins was a former president of the Arkansas Press Association, and served as director from Arkansas and chairman of one of six standing committees of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. He was a former member of the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi.
Mr. Robins is survived by his wife, Dorothy O'Neal Robins; a daughter, Laura Robins Falls of Conway; a sister, Mary Virginia Ferguson of Boxley (Newton County); and a grandson, Nathan Thomas Falls of Conway.

Graveside services will be at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, September 1, at Crestlawn Memorial Park in Conway by Roller-McNutt Funeral Home. Memorial services will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, September 1, at First United Methodist Church in Conway, with the Reverend Charles Murry officiating.

Pallbearers will be Nathan Thomas Falls, John B. Gardner, Roger Mills, Stan Allison, Earl Rogers, Jr., James Isom. Honorary pallbearers will be Dr. William Roberts, Dr. Michael Stanton, Dr. David Lipschitz, Eddie Hubach, William Otto and the Dorothy Robins Light Sunday School Class of the First United Methodist Church.

The family would like to invite the employees, both past and present, of the Log Cabin Democrat to sit in a special area behind the family at the memorial service.

Mr. Robins had the deserved reputation of being a meticulous man who appreciated details, and that reputation and determination carried over into what was to become an award-winning Log Cabin Democrat, one of the most respected small-town daily newspapers in Arkansas.

"My philosophy is that you have to watch the small things," Mr. Robins told the Arkansas Publisher magazine in 1985, "...the details. We work hard to achieve a good product and that comes from eternal vigilance."

He told the magazine that one of the things of which he was most proud was the product his staff put out and the service the paper provided the community. "We put extra demands on our staff, and they always come through."

Mr. Robins was once described in a newspaper article as a Renaissance man: a publisher, a pilot, printer, pianist, teacher, inventor, duck hunter, historian, mechanic, duck caller, and woodworker. In previous years, he was a board president, scratch golfer, Sunday school teacher, military officer, Boy Scout leader and a football player.

In 1994, he received the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Service Award. In presenting the award, Chamber President Bill Hegeman cited examples of Mr. Robins' involvement in community affairs, such as the preservation of Faulkner County history, construction of a veterans memorial at the Faulkner County Courthouse and the promotion of the annual Toad Suck Daze festival.

That same year, when he announced his impending retirement, Mr. Robins reflected on his tenure as publisher:
"The privilege that I have had in directing this newspaper for most of my adult life has been immeasurable. My family's involvement in the Log Cabin Democrat goes back a hundred years, and I would hope history would be kind and view me as a good steward.

"I'd also like to believe that this newspaper has made a difference in the daily lives of our readers and advertisers. We have been staunch supporters of Faulkner County and Conway, and we've always taken positions we believe have been in the best interests of the area.

"Whatever we have become as a newspaper, it has been because of strong, dedicated people who have believed their role in this business has been to serve the community. Without them, little could have been accomplished. When I look back on where I came from, and who I made the journey with, it's just been a fantastic experience."

The Log Cabin Democrat traces its history to July 1879, when Able F. Livingston came to Conway from Illinois and founded a newspaper. Livingston had been a member of the old Whig Party, and even though the party was gone then, he chose the Log Cabin - the symbol of the Whig Party - as the name for his newspaper and named Charlie Cox its first editor.

In the early 1880s, Livingston moved to Morrilton to edit the Star, and his brothers-in-law, Zol and T. M. Woods, continued to publish the Log Cabin. In March 1885, J.W. Underbill became part owner. Livingston had created the newspaper as a Republican weekly, but when Underbill assumed control from the Woods brothers in the late 1880s, he turned it into a Democratic Party newspaper.
On Jan. 1,1894, Underbill and J.W. Robins, who owned a sawmill, decided to trade businesses. The deal was completed on a creek bank and was the beginning of an almost unbroken succession of Robins family ownership. One of Robins' reasons for obtaining the newspaper was to provide his son, Frank, with the educational environment of a newspaper office. Young Frank Robins has just turned 13 when his 39-year-old father purchased the Log Cabin.

Six months later, J.W. Robins died. His wife, Minnie Freeman Robins, published the paper until the fall of 1894, when she turned the operation of the Log Cabin over to O.C. Ludwig. Three years later, Mrs. Robins again became involved in the operation of the newspaper.

Another newspaper, the Democrat, had begun publishing in Conway in 1881, but a fire at the offices caused it to cease publication in 1885. About 10 years later, the Democrat was revived by a group of three men, and in 1896, Underbill returned to Conway and purchased it. In 1899, he married Minnie Robins and thus became associated again with the Log Cabin. The two newspapers were published from the same office, and the Robins-Underhill marriage was the first step toward the merger of the two papers, which occurred in 1901 and the name Log Cabin Democrat was born. A year after the merger, Underbill's health failed and Frank E. Robins, then 22, took over management of the newspaper his father had purchased eight years earlier.

When Underbill died in 1906, Robins became the editor and purchased his stepfather's interest. Two years later, on Sept. 14, 1908, there was a drastic change in the newspaper, when Frank Robins decided to begin a daily edition of the Log Cabin Democrat to coincide with the opening of the Arkansas State Normal School (now the University of Central Arkansas).

In 1949, Frank E. Robins Jr. became publisher of the newspaper upon the death of his father. Frank E. Robins III began his career at the newspaper at the age of 13 as a newspaper carrier. Prior to becoming publisher of the paper in 1959 upon the death of his father, Mr. Robins was laying the foundation for when he would assume control of the business. He worked in every department of the paper, including as a reporter, proofreader, he operated the Linotype machines during the "hot metal" days, worked in the camera room, composing and makeup, advertising department and in the pressroom.

Mr. Robins often used his many talents to build tools and equipment for the newspaper when a commercial source could not be found, or if the quality of the commercial product was not up to his standards. For example, when the paper was looking to purchase new light tables for the composing room, Mr. Robins couldn't find a commercial model with all the features he thought it should have, so he designed and built a prototype, and later built seven more. After almost three decades of use, they are still in use at the newspaper today.

His innovations weren't just limited to tools, however. He masterminded unique concepts at the paper, such as a Customer Convenience Center, a staff Reference Book, a daily in-house news bulletin, and many other items designed to benefit readers, walk-in customers and advertisers.

In response to a need he saw for advertisers and readers alike, on Dec. 2,1979, Mr. Robins dropped the Saturday edition of the Log Cabin Democrat and started a Sunday morning edition. On April 14,1980, after 80 years on Oak Street, the Log Cabin offices were moved from 1318 Oak St. to its current quarters at 1058 Front St.

In July of that same year, a new computer system was installed which replaced the typewriter as the reporter's trusty tool, moving the Log Cabin another step away from the green-eyeshade era of journalism when Able F. Livingston opened his newspaper office in Conway.

Two years later, Aug. 26,1982, the Log Cabin Democrat ceased publication of its weekly edition, ending a tradition of small-community coverage that stretched back over 100 years.

On Oct. 1,1989, the Log Cabin Democrat finalized a planned restructuring of the corporation's ownership. The restructuring included 51 percent of the stock in the newspaper being owned by Mr. Robins, his wife, Dorothy, and his daughter, Laura Robins Falls. The remaining 49 percent was purchased by Stauffer Communications Inc. of Topeka, Kan. Mr. Robins continued to serve as publisher until his retirement in 1994.

The newspaper is now fully owned by Morris Communications Inc. of Augusta, Ga.

*Obituary

Dorothy O'Neal Robins, 85, of Conway died at her home surrounded by family following a brief illness.
Born March 18, 1929 in Hope, she was a daughter of the late Earl Nathaniel and Grace Powell O'Neal. A graduate of Hope High School, she graduated from Hendrix College in 1951 with a degree in education and psychology.
At Hendrix, she met and married Frank E. Robins III in 1950. The Robins family owned and operated the Log Cabin Democrat for many years where she served as society editor.
The couple was blessed with a daughter, Laura Robins Falls of Conway and a grandson, Nathan Thomas Falls of Little Rock.
Other survivors are a sister, Virginia O'Neal Gardner of Little Rock and a brother, Jerry O'Neal of Hope.
Mrs. Robins was a devoted, lifetime member of the Methodist Church. Her faith was instrumental in her life and the lives of countless others.
At First United Methodist Church in Conway, she served as a teacher in the preschool and elementary departments. She also helped organize two adult Sunday school classes, the Gussie Scales Class and the Light Sunday School Class, which became the Dorothy Robins Light Sunday School Class in 1995. She taught the Light Class for more than 35 years.
Mrs. Robins served as a lay leader and on numerous committees at First Methodist, including the finance, evangelism, staff-parish relations, permanent endowment, re-visioning and church decoration. She was a member of the church council, the board of trustees, the administrative board and parsonage committee.
A leader in Bible Study Fellowship, she served as treasurer and was a teaching leader for Precept Ministries. She was a founder and leader of the Shady Valley neighborhood ladies prayer group. She was in charge of two local calls to prayer for our nation.
Mrs. Robins was also a member of the Conway Civic League, Chapter E of PEO and the Conway Garden Club.
In 1995, she became a professional model.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at Roller-McNutt Funeral Home. A graveside service is planned at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Crestlawn Memorial Park in Conway. A memorial service will follow at 10:30 a.m. at First United Methodist Church in Conway, with Dr. Michael Roberts officiating.
Pallbearers will be Nathan Thomas Falls, John B. Gardner III, Zach Wilson, John B. Gardner IV, Lance Turner and Ben Allen.
Honorary pallbearers are members of the Dorothy Robins Light Sunday School Class at First United Methodist Church.
Memorials may be made to First United Methodist Church of Conway, the FUMC food pantry, the Full Circle Food Pantry at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville or to the peanut allergy research program at Arkansas Children's Hospital. For online guestbook, www.rollerfuneralhomes.com.

Published January 11, 2015

OBITUARY SUBMITTED BY:
Roller-McNutt / Conway
8th and Vine, P.O. Box 249, Conway, AR
Phone: 501-374-2731

Contributed on 2/5/23 by hawkinsdonna48
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