Acea Robison

Acea Homer Robison was born on December 11, 1932, to Homer Franklin Robison and Miriam Barney Robison. He was the third of three children; his sisters were Anita and Edith. They lived in Filmore Utah. They were active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and found joy in serving others.

They were a happy family despite hard times. They worked hard and made the best of things. Their family owned a dry farm where they grew wheat. Acea was allergic to wheat dust and so did not participate in that part of the family’s activities. His father also worked as a buyer for the local meat packing plant. His mother was a teacher. Acea was influenced by his mother’s teaching experience, he loved learning and knowing about the world. He was always anxious to know what we were learning in school and give lengthy lessons on school topics, especially science and math.

He worked for his Uncle Rolf in Provo doing electrical work and used that knowledge later in the Army to secure a position that allowed him some enjoyment and freedom from routine military service. He had a desire to be a missionary for the church, but due to the position of the local draft board he was prevented from going. After waiting for two years without being called up, he was drafted into the Army. During that wait he attended BYU and married a beautiful young woman from Massachusetts, Clara Ann Waite.

While in the military Acea was often asked, “Do you have a lite?” to which his favorite response was “The Lord is my Light”. This was confusing, but it stimulated discussion about religious beliefs and some of his army friends attended church with him as a result.

Shortly after their daughter, Arlene was born Acea left for Germany. Clara and Arlene went to Massachusetts to stay with her parents. After returning from military service the family returned to Utah and Acea went back to school, first at BYU and then to Utah State University in Logan.

The family grew out of two homes in Logan, one on 10th North by the university and one on 1st West by the High School, before moving to the home on 2nd South, where they would stay for more than 50 years. Mom always wanted an even dozen children. She had eleven; Arlene, Ray Leila, Carolyn, Lloyd, Darrell, Alan, Grant, Gary, Paul, and Kyle. Our home was a place of love, learning and constant activity. We were teenagers before we realized that we were poor, and by then we appreciated the fact that money is less important than the things our parents gave us.

Dad worked at several different jobs, but the one he had the longest was at Thiokol Chemical where he worked on solid rockets for missiles and booster rockets for the space shuttle. Dad rode in a carpool, and new members of the carpool were often fascinated by the fact that there were so many children playing in the yard. They would ask “are those all your kids?” to which dad would reply, “No, there are more in the house”.

Dad was a fixer. After moving from our 1st West home, he continued to visit and fix things for the widows who lived on our street. He would stop and help stranded travelers, both poor and wealthy. He picked up hitchhikers. He stopped another time to help a family that had a tire go out on their boat and they were unable to make repairs. We were anxious to go swimming at Bear Lake, but he could not ignore their need.

Dad was not afraid to speak up for others. In the early 70’s there was an effort at his work to make rules preventing men from having long hair. One of his co-workers was a native American who had long hair. Knowing about his culture, dad argued that requiring him to cut his hair would damage his standing with his people. He was successful and the rule never went into effect.

Dad’s favorite calling in church was to be a missionary. It wasn’t enough for him to just do missionary work, he wanted us all to help. He taught us to be friendly and open minded with other people in our neighborhood. We made new friends, and we invited them to play, to church activities and we spent time at their homes. Some of them were baptized. We learned a lot from these experiences.

We had a new neighbor move in next door who had recently had a heart attack. We were instructed to shovel snow for the neighbor before we shoveled our own sidewalks. To this day I enjoy shoveling snow because of the good experiences I had then.

Acea and Clara celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary this year. Clara died on June 4th at the age of 90. Acea died on August 9th at the age of 91. Acea was preceded in death by his parents, Homer and Miriam Robison, his sisters, Anita and Edith, his wife Clara and three grandchildren: Jennifer Robison, Acea Jack Robison and Alek Robison. They are survived by 11 children: Arlene, Ray, Leila, Carolyn, Lloyd, Darrell, Alan, Grant, Gary, Paul, and Kyle. They are also survived by Grandchildren and great grandchildren.

We are saddened by their passing, but happy in the knowledge that they are together forever.

A viewing will be held Wednesday evening (8.14) from 6-8 pm at Nelson Funeral Home (162 E 400 N) and on Thursday from 9:30-10:30 with a funeral to follow at 11 am. Interment will follow at the Hyde Park Cemetery.