Edythe Robbins

Edythe W. Robbins passed away peacefully August 10, 2019 in Okatie, SC. Her family and friends remember a smart, tenacious, independent, professional woman. Born Edith Jean Weaver, November 23, 1925, in Willow Creek near Trumansburg, NY., she attended a one room schoolhouse where she skipped the third grade, changed the spelling of her name to Edythe and played the trombone and piano. Able to go toe to toe with her three brothers-Charles, Donald and Stephen, anything they could do she could do better-skipping stones, shooting wood chucks, doing daring feats… Add competitive to her list of attributes. At sixteen, she took her trombone to state and graduated salutatorian from Trumansburg High.

Her education continued at New York State College for Teachers (now SUNY Albany) with a major in Mathematics and Education. During WWII, she worked as a human calculator for balancing turbines. Following the war, she met her loving husband Sgt LeRoy W. Robbins E.E. at the General Electric Plant in Schenectady. During the war, LeRoy engineered new parts in the field in order to keep the Air Corps airborne. Following their marriage, they lived in Ballston Spa before being transferred to the Hudson Falls GE plant. LeRoy passed all to soon in 1960, leaving Edythe with three young children ages 7, 5 and 1 ½. At a time when many women didn’t even drive, she became the sole bread winner. Her education was once again put to work. First, teaching math at Hartford Central School before earning her M.Ed. at Cornell.  Next, joining the faculty at Adirondack Community College (ACC) in 1964. During her tenure, she taught calculus to students who went on to successful careers with IBM, but also mentored many reluctant math students.

Meanwhile, Edythe still had three kids to raise. And raise them she did.  Dinner was at the table every night. Papers were graded and courses prepped weekdays at 5 a.m. and Sunday afternoons. That left Saturdays and most summers for adventures: camping from Acadia west to the Olympics and south to Cape Hatteras; hiking; backpacking; canoeing; white water rafting; bike touring; skating; tobogganing; snowshoeing; cross country and downhill skiing. Jealous? You should be. She was active with the Glens Falls Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) including leading outings on her way to becoming an ADK 46er. She was a lay reader for the United Methodist Church of Hudson Falls and her bridge group of 30 years was her idea of relaxation.

Once Edythe had fledged her brood, she was free to pursue her passions. After retiring as an Associate Professor from ACC in 1985 she began leading outings for the Crooked Canes in 1986. It was here that she met her second husband Pvt. Charles (Chuck) H. Bennett, a tail gunner in WWII. Both were avid birders and gardeners. Together they spent many happy miles on Adirondack waters and trails, ground truthed for Barbara McMartin’s Discover the … Adirondacks hiking guidebooks and contributed to local land conservation. Not a pair to sit still they bought an RV and roamed from New York to Florida, Arizona and Alaska. Four years ago, they became permanent snowbirds in South Carolina in order to be close to Edythe’s daughter, Marian.  Chuck sadly passed in the spring of 2017.

She was loved and will be missed. Edythe is survived by her three children:  son Howard L. Robbins, his wife Pat E. Hicks of Blacksburg, VA and their blended family Tristram L. Robbins, Ehron, and twins Tara and Braden Hicks, and twins Sammy and Izzy Robbins; daughter Marian L., her husband Thomas R. Bastian of Okatie, SC and their children Capt. Ian R. Bastian, M.D. (the only one who could reliably beat her at Scrabble) and Haley R. Bastian, Esq.; daughter Margaret (Meg) C. Town and her husband Michael J. Town of Duvall WA; also, Chuck’s son Dick Bennett and his wife Dorcey of Clifton Park, NY. Her children and grandchildren continue to honor her values of compassion, education and conservancy. Mentally sharp and never one to quit anything, of course she beat us at scrabble, completed crosswords, read biographies and played her piano and recorders right to the end.

A celebration of life will be established at a later date. Edythe will be interred with LeRoy at the Sandy Hill Fort Edward Union Cemetery. Contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to your charity of choice: adopt a stray or support a shelter, mentor a student or support a scholarship, adopt a trail or protect some open space.

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