John Edwards Robins died Sunday, 9 April 2017, at The Chesapeake, Newport News VA. He was born on Lone Oak Farm, Elizabeth City County VA, December 10, 1919, to Margaret Edwards and Bartlett Todd Robins.  He attended local schools, graduating from Hampton High School in 1937.  That same year, he went to sea working for Ford Motor Company transporting cars from Florida to the Caribbean and South America.  He graduated from the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company Apprentice School in 1944. He served in the US Navy in Bremerton WA from 1944 to 1946.  He returned to the Shipyard in 1946 and continued there until his retirement in 1982.
John was a life-long member of St. John's Episcopal Church and served on its vestry for many years.  He was also a member of the Hampton Yacht Club, the Hampton Roads German Club, and the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers.  He enjoyed gardening, golf, and his grandchildren.
John was predeceased by his first wife, Alice Monroe, who he married in 1944 and who died in 1992, and his second wife, Lucy Catlett White, who he married in 1993 and who died in 2009.  He is survived by his children, John E. Robins, Jr., and wife, Cyndi, Portsmouth VA; Judith R. Anderson and her husband, Jack, Seaford VA; Susan R. Long and her husband, Robert, Yorktown VA; four grandchildren, John E. Robins III and his wife, Betsi, Austin TX, Judd J. Robins and his significant partner, Natasha Berk, Atlanta GA, Robert E. Long, Yorktown VA, and Alice A. Hoegel and her husband, Phil, Atlanta GA; two step-grandchildren, Kathrine I. Gray and her husband Ronnie, Newport News VA, and Aaron O. Anderson, of Smithfield VA; one great-grandchild, Margaret E. S. Robins, Austin, TX; one brother, A. Warner Robins, Yorktown VA; and two sisters, Mrs. Mary R. Bruce, Seattle WA, and Mrs. Martha R. Maclay of Fairfield Farm, Gloucester County VA.
The family will receive friends Wednesday, April 12 from 5-7 pm at R. Hayden Smith Funeral Home, 245 South Armistead Ave., Hampton VA 23669. A funeral service will be conducted Thursday, 2 p.m., at St. John's Episcopal Church, 100 West Queens Way, Hampton VA 23669 with interment in St. John's Cemetery.
The family requests any memorials be made in John's name to the St. John's Church Discretionary Fund, 100 West Queens Way, Hampton VA 23669.