James Ray Robeson

James R. (Jim) Robeson, age 86, died in Bloomington, Indiana from pneumonia. Jim grew up in western Maryland and graduated from Beall High School, Frostburg, Maryland, in 1944. That same year, he enlisted in the U.S. Naval Air Corps, serving from June 1944 to June 1946 as a radio-radar operator and gunner aboard torpedo and dive bombers. He served at Naval Air Bases in five different states.

In September, 1946, he entered Frostburg State, planning to transfer to West Virginia University for a journalism degree. But, in January of 1948, he began work at a finance company, Universal C.I.T. Credit Corporation, in Cumberland, Maryland. He was transferred to a branch office in Wilmington, Delaware, in March 1948, which was where he met his future wife, Bea Donovan. In April 1949, Jim returned to Frostburg to open a small tavern-grocery store to help out his family and ailing father. When his father's health improved, Jim returned to his position in Wilmington in 1951. After working as District Manager of the C.I.T. Wilmington office, Jim moved to American Installment Credit Corporation in early 1961. In January 1969, Jim began working for Wilmington Trust Company and retired there as a Vice President in January 1992. During the 1960s, he served as an area correspondent for Automotive News in Detroit.

Jim and Bea Donovan, a friend and co-worker at C.I.T. Began dating after Jim's return from his two year move back to Frostburg. They married on September 5, 1953. In 1955, they purchased a lot on Mockingbird Hill Road in Hockessin, Delaware, built a brick ranch house, and moved in in 1956. In 1962, they added a large screened-in porch with a fireplace and grill that was a favorite gathering place for the Robeson and Donovan families. Jim was an avid cook and woodsman, heating their home with a wood-burning stove. He also made large quantities of sauerkraut each fall to give to family and friends. Jim and Bea raised their two sons, Dennis and Scott, at their home in Hockessin. Bea died in 2002. Jim moved to Bloomington, Indiana in 2007.

Jim’s parents, Ellis and Olive Robeson, are deceased, in 1970 and 1999, respectively. A sister, Anna Ruth Winfield, and two brothers, Robert and Donald, also are deceased.

Jim is survived by his son Dennis, wife Nancy, and their two sons, Andrew and Bradley, of Parkland, Florida, and his son, Scott, wife Teresa, and their two sons, Bryce and Grant, of Bloomington, Indiana. He also is survived by two sisters and three brothers (and their spouse or partner).