Jerry Robinson

Jerry D. Robinson, former Police Chief of Artesia, New Mexico, died on March 17, 2002, at the Osteopathic Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas at the age of 90. Services will be held at 10:00 A.M. Friday at Terpening Son Mortuary with Rev. Paul Duerksen officiating. Burial will follow at Woodbine Cemetery. Pallbeares will be Ernest Chavez, Bob Bishop, Orlando Trujillo, Jerry Eickhoff, Phil Fry and Harry Wesson. All other law enforcement officers have been designated as honorary pallbearers. Mr. Robinson was born October 2, 1911, on his familys farm in Union Township, north of Mooreland, Oklahoma in Woodward, County. His parents were Roy C. and Hazel A. Stine Robinson. He received his early education at the Hawkeye School District No. 177, in Woodward County, graduating from Mooreland High School on May 16, 1929. He was united in marriage to Ramona Fay Burdick, at her parents home in Mooreland, on June 20, 1933. Their twin sons were born on March 25, 1935. Jerry was employed by the C. E. Sharp Lumber Company, in Mooreland. In the summer of 1940, he moved his family to Los Angeles, California. Jerry was a civilian employee of the U. S. Navy during World War II, and operated his own automotive service stations following the war. In 1950, the Robinsons moved to Artesia, New Mexico. Jerry was employed by the Boyd-Cole Pontiac dealership, and Bowman Lumber Company, before joining the Artesia Police Department in 1956. In his twenty years with the Police Department, he was promoted from Patrolman to Chief of Police, retiring in 1976. He and Ramona spent their retirement years traveling the southwest and central U. S. in their fifth wheel travel trailer, and enjoying their home in Artesia. He enjoyed fishing and hunting, and was a member of the Woodward Masonic Lodge 189, in Woodward, Oklahoma. He is preceded in death by his wife Ramona, his parents and three brothers, Virgil M., Harold B., and Vernon W. He is survived by one brother, Vaughn D. Robinson, of Ruidoso, New Mexico, his sons and daughters-in-law, Dwaine A. and Betty Jo Robinson of Forth Worth, Texas, Dwight G. and Charlotte A. Robinson of Raytown, Missouri, six grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild.