Born July 3, 1932 in Tupelo, Arkansas, to Golda and Preston Adcox, Kathryn grew up in Newport, Arkansas. Her life changed in the summer of 1946 when a young man, Chet Robinson, from Springfield, Massachusetts, came to town to visit his grandparents. He and Kathryn met and spent three weeks together, mostly talking in her parent’s porch swing. After high school graduation Chet made his way back and enrolled at The University of Arkansas, with frequent weekend trips to Newport. The next year Kathryn entered the university. They married in 1951 and continued their studies, graduating in 1954, a month before their son, Allen, was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, where Chet was stationed at Camp Chaffee.

Kathryn participated in Chet’s career with the DuPont Chemical Company that took them from Texas to Wilmington, Delaware and back to Texas several times. Their daughters, Sara and Karen, were born in Orange, Texas. During the six years working for DuPont in Geneva, Switzerland Kathryn took advantage of the opportunity to fully involve herself in inter-cultural and international activities. Also, the family traveled across Europe and around the globe, immersing themselves in the different cultures they encountered.

With Kathryn’s encouragement, Allen, Sara and Karen were reared to have “roots and wings.” This allowed them to follow Kathryn’s example of a life of travel and reaching out to others. As adults, they are caring, compassionate and contributing citizens.

Kathryn was enthusiastic when Chet retired from DuPont in 1985. He and Kathryn became Peace Corps Volunteers in Gabon, West Africa and later on the Caribbean Island of Antigua. The Peace Corps logo at that time was “The hardest job you’ll ever love.” Absolutely true! They both came away from three years of service having received much more than they had given.

Their wanderlust kept them on the move until 1990 when they settled in Bryan. That trail took them on a four-month driving tour of Mexico and five-month exploration of the entire Lewis and Clark Trail in a pop-up camper. Several summers were spent camping beside Lake Ennis in Montana while Kathryn wrote two books, Tandem Times and The Mating Dance; Chet fished.

In Bryan, Kathryn finished her two books and Chet earned a PhD from Texas A&M. They worked with and became surrogate parents to a large group of international students and their families. Very active at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Kathryn served on the church vestry. She arranged exchange programs with Shiloh Baptist Church and Friend’s Congregational Church.

Kathryn was active in Brazos Writers and attended writers’ workshops around the country. Using her writing skills, she interviewed Hospice patients and wrote their stories for the Hospice archives. Kathryn interviewed people over ninety in the Afro-American community and prepared their stories and videos for the African American Museum and the Bush Library.

Love, joy and enthusiasm embraced Kathryn’s life and surrounded her with loving family and friends.

With that same love she leaves behind her husband, Chet; their son Allen and his wife Patricia of Lake Oswego, Oregon; daughter Sara and her wife, Pam Dettwiler, of Houston, Texas; daughter Karen and her husband, George Bange of Lewistown, Pennsylvania; two granddaughters, Kat Robinson, of Lake Oswego, and Cristy Robinson Myers and her husband, Jesse, of Sacramento, California; brother, Preston Adcox, his wife, Janet, of Georgetown, Texas, and their children, Sandee Setterquist and her family of Austin, Texas, and Scott Adcox of Sarasota, Florida; brother-in-law Ernest Haynes of The Colony, Texas and his children, Cheryl Haynes of Dodd City, Texas, Doug Haynes and Mikel Robledo of Plano, Texas and Phil Haynes of The Colony, Texas; brother-in-law, Neal Robinson, his wife, Beverly, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, their children, Tim Robinson of Orlando, Florida, Holly Robinson of Cleveland, Tennessee, Lincoln Robinson of Chattanooga, Laura Whitworth of Warden, Illinois and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A memorial service to celebrate Kathryn’s life will be held on her birthday, Thursday, July 3 at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church in College Station. Kathryn asked that her family provide flowers for the service. Kathryn would be pleased with memorials, in her name, made to organizations of your choice. Her preferred organizations are: St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Hospice Brazos Valley, and M. D. Anderson.