Leader’s values will remain

COSTA MESA — Bob Robins has a framed photograph on the wall of his car dealership that captures a bittersweet moment in his family’s history. The picture shows Robins, his sister, his daughter and two sons — all Newport Harbor High School graduates — gathered in front of their alma mater’s most famous building, Robins Hall. At the bottom is a caption marking the date the photo was taken: December 22, 2006.

That date will soon mark a bygone era.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District, which closed Robins Hall in 2003 due to seismic problems, plans to demolish it this summer before starting work on a replica building. Since the school opened in 1930, the hall’s clock tower has served as a symbol of Newport Harbor High — and, to some, of Newport Beach in general. For Robins, the son of the building’s namesake, the tower has a more personal resonance.

“He was a very modest, unassuming individual,” Robins said about his father, Theodore Robins, the founder of Theodore Robins Ford in Costa Mesa. “He had a great sense of humor. To have the school name that building after him, he would have been pleased beyond words. He would have been the one saying, ‘Why me?’”

According to his children and grandchildren, Theodore Robins may have had a quiet demeanor, but he made his presence felt in other ways. He opened one of the first auto repair shops in Newport Beach in 1921, and two years later launched a Ford dealership. Robins was also a firm believer in charity and community service, volunteering for the Lions Club and the Exchange Club and winning the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year Award in 1966.

Robins also played a part in the formative years of Newport Harbor High: he was on the school’s charter board of trustees in 1929. Shortly after Robins died in 1976, the school rewarded his service by naming its most prominent building, containing classrooms, administrative offices and the campus theater, after him.

Bob Robins and his children had graduated from Newport Harbor by the time the building was christened, but having the namesake on Irvine Avenue and 15th Street became a source of pride for them.

“It was a very proud moment when they named it Robins Hall,” said grandson Dave Robins, who works along with his brother Jim at Theodore Robins Ford. “With all the historical memories we have in the community, it was a very nice honor.”

The family plans to stand by and watch this summer when the building is demolished. In its place, the district has promised a nearly identical building. To Jim Robins, who was a Newport Harbor student when his grandfather passed away, the recreation of the building will serve as a testament to his family’s local influence.

“He was very focused on community and family,” Robins said. “He always believed, as my father did, in giving back to the community.”