Ann Robinson

Ann Robinson, born in Danville, Virginia, grew up in nearby Chatham and graduated from the town’s high school in 1961.  Two years later she moved to Richmond, Virginia, the first of several moves and a variety of jobs and experiences. While in Richmond, she provided clerical assistance, first in the Richmond Delinquent Tax Department, and then in various departments at the Medical College of Virginia.  Here she has the honor of being the first secretary to MCV’s orthopedic residents.  She also became a certified surgical technician and worked in that capacity for two years.

She met Dennis Robinson (deceased 2006) on a blind date.  They married in 1971 and settled in Culpepper, Virginia, where Dennis worked as an emergency room doctor.  In 1972, Ann completed a program offered by the Culpepper School of Cosmetology acquiring skills for a career she never pursued. 

In 1973, and now living in New Orleans, Ann worked as an operating room technician.  The Robinsons relocated to Bedford, Virginia, in 1976, and remained there until 1996.  Ever since childhood, Ann had dreamed of being a nurse; in 1991, she graduated as a Registered Nurse from the College of Health Services at Community Hospital in Roanoke, Virginia. 

A return to Chatham had always appealed to Ann and in 1996 she and Dennis built a house designed by her and located on a former tobacco field that she had worked as a child and teenager.  Until retirement in 2004, Ann used her nursing skills in a number of settings:  ICU, surgery, general hospital floors, and home health.

Ann enjoys gardening and is a Master Gardener.  She has sung in church choirs for many years, walks regularly, and has traveled, both in the United States and Europe.  In 1976, she and her husband explored Mexico by way of a BMW motorcycle.  While living in Bedford, Ann helped to organize the Whiskers and Paws Cat Club and entered cat shows in the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Florida.  In 1984, the Association of Cat Fanciers awarded Ann and her kitten “ Best Manx Kitten in the USA.