ROBINSON

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 07:46:11 :

Marin Independent Journal
Wednesday, September 15, 1993

Conservationist Shayer Robinson

Shayer Oswin Lancelot Robinson, a conservationist whose military career took him from the fringe of the Bolshevik Revolution through civilian service and World War II, died at his Mill Valley home Friday, Sept. 3, 1993. He was 91.

Mr. Robinson was born in Australia, His father was a British sea captain, and his mother a San Francisco native.

Mr. Robinson recalled being carried from the family home when 4 years old under his father’s arm as the great quake of 1906 ruined the family home.

The family put up a tent on a lot they’d bought on a Mill Valley ridge, and added rooms around the tent platform as they were needed. The family stayed in Mill Valley, where Mr. Robinson graduated from old Summit School and went to Tamalpais High.

He signed up for the U. S. Army before graduating high school, and earned his diploma later, taking summer classed at UC Berkeley.

In 1919 he was helmsman on a troop transport, the U.S.A.T. Sherman, which was sent from Manila to the port of Vladivostok to counter the Bolshevik Revolution. The ship ran aground in Siberian waters, but managed to get free.

Back home, Robinson went to UC Berkeley, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology. He joined the Berkeley police force while still studying.

He helped with the invention of the lie detector, pioneered by Leonarde Keeler, and after graduating continued research at the Institute for Juvenile Research in Chicago on early detection of Down syndrome.

He tried his hand at commerce, but failed when the Depression hit. He was accepted for military duty in 1930.

He was put in charge of a Civilian Conservation Corps camp east of Fresno, overseeing men who built roads into Sequoia National Park. The camp was so efficient he was awarded and promoted for his work.

He was an officer on duty at the Presidio when reports of the Pearl Harbor attack were received. He was reassigned to the state of Washington’s Western Defense Command, then to the Aleutian Islands. He worked in logistics and deployment.

After the war, he was stationed at the pentagon. He taught economics from 1948 to 1952 for the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

He was assigned in Europe, then New Jersey and retired from the Army in 1957 a full colonel, having been awarded the Legion of Merit.

At home in Mill Valley, he was a chef and famous for his pastries. He also loved to knit, winning many prizes.

He was a lifetime Tamalpais Conservation Club member, attending the first meeting of that society with his father. He was concerned with the natural world around him and at 90 would hike downtown and back to his house.

His many friends and extended family say they will miss his story-telling. He died in the home both his parents died in, preceded by a year by his sister and her husband.

No funeral service was held at his request.