On her 99th birthday in January 2002 Ida Robinson amused the
crowd of well-wishers with her philosophy of aging.
On her 99th birthday in January 2002 Ida Robinson amused the crowd of well-wishers with her philosophy of aging.
“I’m not old,” she said, “I’ve just been here a long time.”
On Tuesday Robinson celebrated her 100th birthday in the company of even more family and friends. It took two large sheet cakes to feed the gathered host attending the party at Pacific Hills Manor on Peak Avenue.
Mayor Dennis Kennedy presented Robinson with a Certificate of Recognition for her long service.
“Ida has been an active member of her community for many years,” he said, “and on the occasion of her 100th birthday, it is important that we take a few minutes to recognize what she’s contributed to her community.”
Robinson is widely praised for urging Mervyn’s to come to town.
“She went before the City Council and told them the seniors in town needed a Mervyn’s,” said Linda Hartman, who adopted Robinson as her ‘grandmother’ 10 years ago.
She laughs at a memory of Robinson visiting the construction site at Cochrane Plaza – in her late 80s – carrying a golden shovel, wearing a golden hard hat.
“Ida takes great pride in having accomplished that,” Kennedy said.
On Tuesday Robinson traded the hard hat for a golden crown.
Robinson moved to Morgan Hill in the early 1970s and immediately jumped into community life. Putting her knitting and crocheting skills to good use, she donated dozens of afghans and other hand-made articles to her church and the Morgan Hill Senior Center for use in fundraisers.
“She was a “giving” person and never, ever bashful,” her daughter Patricia Pennington-Faler said. “If somebody needed something, Mom would go out and get it for them.”
Councilwoman Hedy Chang attended the party to wish Robinson well and thank her for being a good citizen.
“She always watches what I do,” Chang said. “She keeps her eyes on the City Council. In the Chinese way, 100-year-old people are like precious jewels,” she said. “Ida is a precious jewel to Morgan Hill.”
“She is the best lady in town,” Hartman said.
Hartman said she ‘adopted’ Robinson 10 years ago because she was so impressed with the way she faced adversity in the past and how she made a difference in her community all during her long life.
“She (Robinson) came to the area from Sacramento after splitting from her first husband,” Hartman said. “She needed a job to support her two small children and went to all the hotels and offered to work a day for free so they could see what a good chambermaid she could be.
“But they all said she would need $5 up front to join the union,” Hartman said. “Needless to say, Robinson did not have $5 so she left the hotel without a job. However, lying on the ground outside was a $5 bill.”
David Daggett, one of six grandsons and three granddaughters, said Ida is a fantastic grandmother (and great-grandmother to one).
“She always had time for us,” he said.
Another grandson, Steve Pennington, a Morgan Hill Police Officer, said “She is a very giving grandmother.”
His mother, Pennington-Faler, said family is very important to Robinson.
Friends, too, had nothing but praise for the centenarian.
“Ida did so many good things,” said Margaret Johnston, another close friend who came early to Tuesday’s party.
Robinson lived alone until October, though attended closely by Pennington-Faler, who lived just a few feet away. An unending supply of friends stopped by frequently, especially Johnston, Pennington-Faler said.
“Margaret was like a daughter to Mom,” she said. “She was very reliable and is really special to our family.”
Johnston was born in the same year as Robinson’s daughter Margery, who died from polio when young.
Robinson moved from her daughter’s cottage in October after an illness that left her too weak to continue on her own.
“She’s still frail,” Pennington-Faler said, “but she’s picking up.”
Robinson drove until she was in her 80s when she voluntarily gave up her car keys, Pennington-Faler said.
“She said ‘I don’t want to put anybody at risk,’” her daughter said.
Robinson set out to find her own transportation.
“She was very self-reliant and wanted to be responsible for herself,” Pennington-Faler said.
“Mom loves to dance,” Pennington-Faler said. “The last time she danced was at Steve’s wedding 10 years ago.”
Robinson’s last dance may have been at age 90 but, at 100 and in a wheelchair, she just keeps rolling along.
