‘Doc R’: 43 Years Developing Minds

BY SCOTT QUEEN

This summer, Dr. O.A. “Berre” Robinson is building an addition at his stately home on West Davis Street in Fayette. Robinson, who retired from Central Methodist University in 2021, “didn’t have any place” for all his books.

Robinson has been building something even greater for the past 43 years – he’s been building young minds and strong relationships. The longtime CMU philosophy professor can’t seem to part with the books that helped him nurture 10,000 CMU students along the way.

“I really never thought about doing anything other than this,” Robinson said. “I’ve been offered other positions but turned them all down.” He remembers the exact moment that he decided Central Methodist was the place he would put down roots for the rest of his career. “It was a 9 o’clock class, and a young woman came in wearing a chicken suit,” he laughed. “I lost it. I doubled over laughing. That’s when I decided this was a good fit and that I felt comfortable here.” One of the best rewards from teaching, he says, is getting “to see the ‘aha moment’ when something finally makes sense to a student. When their face lights up with understanding. That’s why I stayed in this business.” At Central over the years, Robinson, who was hired by President Joe Howell, has taught the entire philosophy sequence: history, ethics, abnormal psychology, the study of death and dying, and a class simply called "Happiness." And he has served as dean and vice president. “I came as an adjunct and was only supposed to stay a year,” he said. “But it worked out pretty well.” Robinson has seen a lot at Central – he’s seen it at its best and at its worst. “There were some hard times institutionally, but I’m really happy where things are now,” he said.

“Central is pretty healthy financially. We have a good student body, and academically, we are doing a good job.”

“Doc R,” as he is affectionately called, has had many wonderful students over the years.

“There are just so many who have gone so many different directions and done so many great things,” he said. “I am so proud of them all.

“I never tried to be their friend,” Robinson added. “They didn’t need me to be a friend. They needed me to be their professor. I tried in my classes to give them some basics but not just information. I wanted them to understand the information and how important it was in their lives.”

He hears back from students frequently. Even the ones who didn’t do so well.

“I’ve had some who thanked me for failing them – they actually failed themselves,” he said. “But they told me it was a turning point in their lives.”

In reality, Robinson has been far more than a professor. He’s been a mentor, advisor, counselor, and even served as an emergency driver to the hospital for students. He has published numerous articles, books, papers, and presentations over the years, and he has a long record of community service in Fayette.

Dr. Rita Gulstad, provost, said Robinson, now professor emeritus, was dedicated and faithful, and “cared for his students and wanted them to do their very best. He challenged them and supported them.”

Gulstad said students flocked to his ultra-popular “Happiness” class, which focused on personal peace and general happiness in life. This was a special course he developed over an intensive period one summer.

Robinson earned his PhD in philosophy in 1977, his master’s in 1976, and his bachelor’s in 1964. He is respected by his colleagues across campus, including longtime friend Dr. John Carter.

“Berre was one of the two faculty I first met in the summer of 1980,” Carter said. “He had a long line of students he shepherded toward graduation, including my sister. . . these students offer a chorus of success stories in which Doc R played a critical role.”

Carter said that Robinson and his wife, Anne, a graduate of the MU journalism school, “made us feel welcome at Central and in Fayette in the way I came to know as his hallmark.”

Robinson, who Carter described as “not flashy but substantive,” married Anne in 1968. They had met years earlier by chance on a train, both returning to mid-Missouri colleges from Thanksgiving break.

During the Vietnam War, Robinson was in the Air Force and stationed in Saigon. He was in Cholon (the Chinese market area of Saigon), during the Tet Offensive. Shortly thereafter, he and Anne arranged to be married on his “R and R” in Hawaii. He returned to Saigon, and she returned to San Francisco where she worked.

And they’ve been together ever since, most of the time being spent in that stately house on West Davis. Building minds. And now a place for books.