[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 33 (Monday, March 23, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S2449]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 IN MEMORY OF PATRICIA COLBERT ROBINSON

 Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, today I would like to mourn the 
passing of a great woman and pay tribute to her legacy. On March 11, 
one of the leading lights of the Charleston theater community, Patricia 
Colbert Robinson, was extinguished. Mrs. Robinson was a well-known and 
beloved Charleston author, poet, playwright, and actress. Together with 
her husband, Emmett E. Robinson Jr., and fellow actress Dorothy D'Anna, 
she ran the Footlight Players, Charleston's community theater group, 
for almost three decades. In addition to acting in many of the Players' 
productions, Mrs. Robinson helped raise money and organized publicity 
for their events.
  Patricia Robinson was a woman of many talents, and her interests 
encompassed all the arts. She once won first place in the Poetry 
Society of South Carolina spring forum. In addition to her poems, she 
wrote or co-authored seven novels. She also wrote for the Charleston 
News and Courier and The Charleston Evening Post.
  Mrs. Robinson set many of her stories in Charleston and portrayed the 
city with a fine eye for detail and much love. Surprisingly, she was 
not a native Southerner. She was born and reared in Pittsburgh, but 
moved to Charleston in 1944. Nonetheless, she loved the city as 
ardently as its longest residents and always exhibited a great passion 
for its architecture, history, and people. Charlestonians reciprocated 
by embracing her as a neighbor and honorary native daughter.
  With the passing of Patricia Colbert Robinson, Charleston has lost 
one of its most beloved literary and artistic figures. The people of 
Charleston have lost a beloved friend who entertained them on the stage 
and on paper, and who reminded them in beautiful prose of the rich 
history and beauty of their city. She will be much missed.

                          ____________________