Remembering David Robinson: a man who loved his family, God, his school family, music

MARSHALL - The Madison County community lost a giant of a man Jan. 25, leaving a hole that friends, family, coworkers and former students said will be impossible to fill.

David Robinson, Madison High School's principal since 2019, suffered a stomach aneurysm the afternoon of Jan. 25 while helping to load buses and was rushed to Mission Hospital, where he died that night. He was 54.

"This has been the most difficult experience I've had to go through," Robinson's wife of 33 years, Wanda Robinson, said.

Robinson was a man of many talents, but according to his wife and daughter, Robinson's family was most important to him.

"David was the best granddaddy," Wanda Robinson said. "He was a wonderful father. He was a wonderful husband. But he was absolutely in his element as a granddaddy. (In his view) his grandchildren were perfect in every way."

Audra Robinson Adams, 30, is Robinson's youngest daughter. Ashley Robinson-McCall, 32, is the oldest of his children, while his son Alex Robinson is 29.

"We've always done everything together as a family - whether it be music, or sports, or just everything," Adams said.

Robinson's youngest daughter said "love" was the first thing that came to her mind when she thought of her father, though he was such a versatile man.

"I was his baby girl," she said. "Faith (is another word that comes to mind). It's hard to describe him in one word, he was just so many things."

Robinson was a lifelong resident of Gabriel's Creek Road in Mars Hill and a 1986 graduate of Madison High. He graduated from Mars Hill University with a degree in mathematics. After receiving his doctorate in education, Robinson began teaching at Madison Middle School in 2002-03. While there, he coached boys and girls basketball, football and baseball.

Robinson also coached junior varsity girls basketball and the baseball team at Madison High.

His wife remembers Robinson's competitive spirit, even when he was coaching his daughter, Ashley, on the basketball team, while his wife was the assistant coach.

"She got a minor concussion, and he went over there and checked on her and asked, 'You alright, honey? I love you. You're good. You're good,'" Wanda Robinson said. "He was a tough coach - filled with love and passion, but he wanted to win. He didn't believe in just laying down and quitting. You have to suck it up and keep on truckin'."

According to Adams though, when he became a grandfather, Robinson softened up considerably.

She said her dad's "eyes lit up" after she gave birth to her first daughter, and Robinson's first grandchild, Harper, 7. Adams has another other child, Easton, 5.

"I tell people, 'That's not the man that raised me. He got soft when he had grandkids.' I had a really tough delivery," Adams said. "My dad walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a kiss on the forehead, and went right to her. He just scooped her up, and it was just like pure happiness came over him."

Robinson's son, Alex, 29, also has two boys: Bentley, 3 and 7-month-old son, Titus.

Madison County Schools: 'his second family'

Madison Early College High School principal Jennifer Caldwell first met Robinson at Madison Middle when both were new teachers in 2003.

"He became a mentor to me, not because of his years of educational experience - which it seemed like he had 15 years in his first year - but his heart for kids, witty sense of humor, contagious laugh, and his wisdom of how we should walk this earth," Caldwell said.

The county's other high school principal said she was in awe of Robinson's ability to raise his children, teach full time and coach all while attending school and working toward his education specialist master's degree.

"Well, he'd always say, 'Wanda. That’s how.' What a love those two shared," Caldwell said.

According to his family, Robinson would want his community - and his students in particular - to apply the lessons he taught them and to continue working toward making a positive impact, despite their loss.

"I know the students are traumatized. We have loved these kids," Wanda Robinson said. "He knows them all by name. He's known them all by name for years. I can't tell you how many kids have passed through our home.

"He would want people to take this and make the very best of their lives, and strive to do the best, and work to achieve their goals. That's the best thing that anybody who knew David could do to honor him: live a life of integrity and strive to be the very best that you can be at everything you will try. And never give up."

"All he wanted was success for all his students and all his teachers, because they're his second family," Adams said.

Ryan Foley, a 2020 graduate of Madison High, said Robinson was "more than a principal" to him.

"He was a friend, a mentor and he was a heart that wouldn't stop," Foley said. "He was willing to reach anyone - it didn't matter who they were or what they had done. He always cared for everybody and was there for them no matter what."

Foley said he and his principal would often go out to eat lunch.

"We would talk about life, and he would give advice all the time," Foley said. "He always knew what to say and how to help. He was just one of those guys."

Musical talent

Among Robinson's many gifts was his musical talents. He served as music director at Gabriel's Creek Baptist Church, where he also was a deacon.

In 1999, Robinson founded gospel group "Homeward Bound" with Steve Garrison and Charlie Stanton.

Robinson wrote and sang many of the songs, and played guitar. According to his bandmate Garrison, both his innate leadership and his immense musical proficiency shown through in the band.

"My first exposure to him was through music," Garrison said. "He's one of those that you could tell right off the head that he was dealt a little bit more talent than the rest of us. He could listen to a song once or twice and remember it. I'd say he probably knows thousands of songs now. He certainly was the core for our group. Of course we all added something, but as we always said, he was the rock."

Garrison said Robinson "just loved music."

"I can remember going to a lot of different venues - Nashville and other places," Garrison said. "For David, it was never about the environment - the things that some might find appealing, like going to a nightclub or a bar or a honky tonk. For him it was always about the music. We'd go to places just so he could hear a particular band, or a particular guitar player. He had a lot of great respect for music of all genres, and appreciated what people could do it."

According to his bandmate though, the band shifted toward a more Christian-oriented sound.

"At some point, we decided there was more fulfillment in that," Garrison said. "David has a strong faith and is very active in his church and his community. So we started playing Christian songs. It's always funny because with our group, we've never been able to define what our genre was. We were like a hybrid of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver and The Eagles."

Garrison said throughout the last 10 years, he has been more focused on learning about the county's rich musical history.

"He's really been focused on learning more about his culture," Garrison said. "He started playing the fiddle and getting aligned with some of those folks in the county that have a deep love and respect for the old Scotch-Irish Appalachian songs that are known as Madison County's heritage."

Local celebrated ballad singer Sheila Kay Adams is one of the Madison residents Robinson sought out, Garrison said.

One of Foley's favorite memories of his former principal is one that will give him a chuckle for many years, he said.

"When I was in high school, I was their PA announcer. He would always send me a text tell me to play Willy Preston's 'Will It Go Round In Circles.' I'd always look up and he'd be dancing in circles. He was a character.

"I just hope that he knew how much he meant to his community," Foley said. "I wonder if he knew that he was just as loved as he was. I just hope that he knew how cared about he was, and how treasured he was. It always amazes me, but never surprises me, as (interim MHS principal Rhonda) Cuthbertson says, the support this county provides."

If given the chance, his wife said she would take the opportunity to tell Robinson how much she and their family loved him.

"I would just tell him how deeply I love him, and how much I admire and appreciate all the hard work and the effort that he's put into our lives to make it better," Wanda Robinson said. "He's always strived for excellence, and I appreciate all he's done to make our lives better, and the lives around us. I just love him so much, and we appreciate everything he's done because he's worked so hard, and I will miss him forever until I meet him on the other side."

According to Garrison, the county will feel Robinson's loss for some time.

"I just feel like David was really hitting his stride about what he was offering to the community, and that loss is going to be felt for a big time," Garrison said. "He certainly left a big hole in the community."

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Friends & family are mourning loss of Madison High School's principal