[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 33 (Monday, March 3, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E346]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E346]]
         TRIBUTE TO STANLEY J. ROBINSON: LIFE WITH AN ATTITUDE

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                          HON. HENRY A. WAXMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 3, 2003

  Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, March 2003 is 60 years after March 1943. The 
measure of Stanley J. Robinson's life is that during the month he will 
celebrate his 83rd birthday as well as his 60th wedding anniversary. He 
and wife Karlyn will remember that it was only 25 days after that 
wedding date of March 2, 1943, that he shipped out to war. The most 
important china at the wedding was not the porcelain but an assignment 
to fly across Africa in his B-24 with his crewmates to China. Stanley 
is part of what Tom Brokaw has described as ``The Greatest 
Generation.'' Born in Baltimore, Stanley was a bombardier at 23 in and 
participated in 75 combat missions against Imperial Japan. He was 
credited with downing a Japanese Zero fighter plane. He was awarded the 
Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. Stanley takes pride in 
the fact that his B-24 did not lose a single person to enemy action, 
though attacked many times.
  Stanley has always said that every day after his return from war is a 
bonus. He has lived his life with that philosophy, with zest, 
thoughtfulness, and care for others. In his retirement years he has for 
the past 18 years served as a volunteer at the Sibley Hospital.
  In Judaism, a tradition also exists to mark time beyond expectation. 
At 83, Stanley will have a Second Bar Mitzvah at the Washington Hebrew 
Congregation and in the presence of family and friends. On March 8, 
2003, he will be called to the Torah. His First Bar Mitzvah was in 
1933, at 13 when a child assumes the religious obligations of a man. 
The informal tradition of the Second Bar Mitzvah is based upon the 
biblical measure of a life span, 70 years, as Psalm 90:10 says, ``The 
days of our years are threescore years and ten, or even by reason of 
strength fourscore years; yet is their pride but travail and vanity; 
for it is speedily gone, and we fly away.'' This extension of life 
beyond the biblical expectation, the thirteenth anniversary year after 
70, may be observed as an occasion for celebration.
  Stanley Robinson and Karlyn David met when he was 17 and she was 15. 
It was immediately after Yom Kippur and on a street corner in 
Baltimore, whose precise location is now part of family lore. World War 
II came. He was in uniform as an officer in the U.S. Army Air Force 
when they were married six years later, March 2, 1943. They were a 
handsome pair then and remain so today. He has a full head of pure 
white hair.
  Stanley J. Robinson has deep roots in this area. He has lived in 
three neighborhoods within the District of Columbia since moving here 
after the end of World War II. He was in business in the District of 
Columbia until his retirement at age 65. He was President of Union 
Wallpaper and Paint Company, which was founded by his father-in-law, 
Charles David, and operated in the District of Columbia and the suburbs 
for 50 years. At various times, it had stores downtown on New York 
Avenue and in Spring Valley, as well as Rockville, Silver Spring, and 
Alexandria. Union Wallpaper was, during the 1980s, sold to Duron Paint 
Company, where Stanley was a vice president and also served as 
president of Duron's Potomac Wallcovering.
  Stanley and Karlyn have three daughters, six grandchildren, and two 
granddaughters-in-law. All three daughters went through high school in 
the District of Columbia. Their oldest daughter Ellen Robinson Epstein, 
an oral historian and professional organizer, and her husband David 
Epstein, an attorney, reside in Chevy Chase. Four of the five Epstein 
children--Jeremy, Asher, Barak, Dina, and Kira--and two daughters-in-
law, Tamar and Julie--reside in the Washington metropolitan area. They 
are involved in a wide range of activities including working for 
Microsoft, attending the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the 
University of Maryland, student teaching in the DC public schools as 
part of a graduate program in education at GW, working for Hillel 
International in D.C., and practicing law. One Epstein daughter is an 
Admissions Officer at Columbia University and the other daughter is a 
student at the University of Rochester.
  The other Robinson daughters are Lynn Rosenfeld, a PhD graduate from 
the University of Chicago who, with her daughter Hannah, lives in 
Birmingham. Susan Robinson Levy and her husband Sol have each had 
careers as producers at ABC television and reside in New York City.

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