Family, friends celebrate 90th birthday of Mildred Robinson, member of a SE G'ville church
A prayer warrior and faithful woman of God celebrated her 90th birthday with family and members of her church home.
Mother Mildred Robinson, 90, walked down the red carpet alongside her daughters Anita Robinson and Pearlie L. Henderson and her son Freddie L. Robinson Jr. behind her while “Never Would Have Made It” by Marvin Sapp played in the background.
Family and friends watched in awe and recorded her as she walked down the center of the Cross Creek Ballroom on Saturday at the Best Western Gateway Grande Hotel at 4200 NW 97th Blvd.
“I thank God for being here and for saving my soul,” Robinson said. “I am thankful for my family and my church family.”
Robinson said having Jesus in her heart is what is important to her.
“I thank God for us being here today in the name of Jesus,” Robinson said. “Without him, I don’t know where I’ll be. Jesus is all you need. Let Christ come into your heart and treat one another with dignity and respect.”
The tables were draped in cloth with blue roses and gold centerpieces.
Robinson sat in front of the room with her family in her blue sparkled dress with a silver tiara with the number 90 on it.
Robinson said she remembers being one of the first members of Compassionate Outreach Ministries, which was founded by the late Bishop Larry J. Dennison in 1985.
“He lived a holy and righteous life,” Robinson said. “He didn’t sugarcoat it — he gave you the natural truth from the word of God.”
Robinson was born and raised in Otter Creek, and relocated to Gainesville in 1974 after living in Miami.
She is the eldest of 11 children, and has given birth to five children. She is a retired Alachua County Public Schools custodian who started at Williams Elementary School and later worked at Gainesville High School.
“She taught me to always treat people right because you never know who you may meet in this world,” said her daughter Judy King.
Robinson’s eldest daughter, Henderson, said her mother instilled in her family values that she carries with her to this day.
“She’s a wonderful woman of God and has had a full life,” Henderson said. “We hope God bless her to see many more years. She always made sure we ate dinner as a family and to share everything at the gathering and I’ve taught my children the same thing.”
Robinson’s younger brother, Elijah Woody, said she helped raise the younger siblings while they were growing up.
“She’s always a person that will look out for other people,” Woody said. “She was the eldest and always took care of us growing up.”
Robinson’s son said his mother is an example of a Proverbs 31 woman, which is a woman who strives to please God.
“She taught us how to pray,” he said. “She would wake us up at 4 a.m. before high school and pray with us. It’s a tradition I still carry on today. We love her so much. This is a milestone and we wish her many more.”
Anita Robinson, her third eldest daughter, said her mother loved to cook and values prayer and education.
Street compassion:'Compassionate' ministry
“My greatest memory of her is cooking coconut cake, pineapple upside down cake and guava jelly,” she said. “She was a wonderful mom. She would fix us lunch every morning and made sure we prayed and got a good education. Whatever problem we had, she worked to solve it.”
Remarks about the birthday girl were given by Pastor Margaret Dennison of Compassionate Outreach Ministries and Dan Boyd, a former Gainesville High School Principal and former superintendent of Alachua County Public Schools.
“She sits directly behind me during church,” Dennison said. “She’s my strength and my prayer warrior. She’s just a wonderful person.”
“She has been with the gospel for a long time,” Dennison said. “She has been there with me when I started as first lady, shepherd mother and now as a pastor. Thank you for pushing me to be better.”
Boyd said he enjoyed working alongside staff like Robinson during his time at GHS.
“The Lord blessed me because we had good people working beside each other,” Boyd said. “I always think about how lucky I was and having the privilege to serve wonderful people at GHS.”