Beatrice Ruth Lewis

Beatrice Ruth Lewis was born in Biloxi, Mississippi on August 13, 1937, the only child of Percy Herbert Lewis and Beatrice Ruth Johnson. She accepted Christ at an early age and was baptized in the New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, where she played the piano and sang in the choir. She met Willie F. Robinson, a private in the United States Air Force, from Okmulgee, OK at a dance sponsored by one of the community organizations. She liked the fact that he was tall, approximately 6'5" and he was attracted to her pretty legs. They married in February 1955. Later that year, she graduated from Nichols Colored High School in Biloxi, Mississippi and settled into a new life as an Air Force bride. Their union bore four children. The union with Willie dissolved in 1970. Armed with nothing more than a high school education and sheer determination, she returned from Japan and settled in Biloxi to raise her four children on her own. Between 1975 and 1982, she studied and received her Associate’s Degree from Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College. In 1983, Brian, Monique, Yvette and Beatrice were all awarded scholarships to Jackson State University, where Beatrice graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1985. Because of her superior academic performance, she received a fellowship to study at State University of New York at Albany (SUNY), where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Master’s Degree in Social Work. She accomplished this feat while hospitalized her last semester. After a 30-year career with various institutions in Mississippi, Oklahoma and California, she retired as a Psychiatric Social Worker from the County of San Diego in 2009. Beatrice was a voracious reader, enjoyed hanging out with family and friends and going on Daytripper Excursions. She loved to listen to all kinds of music and dance the Electric Slide. She was an activist at heart and thoroughly enjoyed discussing politics and world events. Beatrice was called home on November 28, 2016. She is survived by four children: Cheryl Marie Robinson (DJ Sellers), Brian René Robinson, and twins Monique Elise Robinson (Stephen Denhart) and Yvette Denise Robinson (Robert Walton); two grandsons: Anthony Robinson (Tara Belit) and Andre Murrah (Kathya Rodarte); and two great-grandsons: Liam Murrah and A.J. Robinson, as well as a score of loving cousins and friends.