Today is my grandfather’s birthday – Herman Robinson. He died in 1986, but had he lived he would have been 84 years old today – born February 5, 1926 to Lewis “Christopher Columbus” Robinson & Lucinda Lennon in New York, New York.
Herman was the 7th son of his parents; no children born in between them and his two sisters were the 1st and 8th children. In many cultures, there is a special significance tied to the 7th son; the number 7 in general has a long history of having mystical and religious signficance. I wonder what he would have to say about that?
Herman was a very practical man. One of the most interesting stories my mother has told me about him is that he and his father-in-law never met. Abraham (his father-in-law), being from the South, never had any interest in going up north to New York. Herman on the other hand, having grown up in New York, certainly never had an interest in coming down south either given the ongoing racial tensions. My parents moved from New York in 1978 and Herman finally came down south – once – for a visit that lasted about 36 hours. In fact, we were living in the house I recently posted about when he visited.
Happy Birthday Herman! Now, it is also my stepmother’s birthday! For privacy reasons, I won’t give you details, but I wanted to at least wish her a very happy birthday indeed. 🙂 She’ll have to watch out though, she may be online soon enough. Her alma mater, UNC_Greensboro’s yearbooks are currently being put online by the University of North Carolina – her year looks like it will be added within the next few weeks at the rate their going!