Anne Robinson loved kids — hers and the estimated 15,000 troubled teens she worked with at Beacon Youth and Family Center in Englewood.
Robinson, who died of heart problems Oct. 17 at age 60, was spontaneous and fun-loving, once shooting baskets in her customary high heels with some Beacon residents.
“There was never a discussion about plans at the Beacon Center that didn’t include the kids,” said Mike Guthrie, administrative director. “Her goal was always whatever was best for the kids.”
She loved to “create memories,” said her daughter, Michaely Rosas Parker, who remembered when two nephews stayed overnight. Robinson asked what they wanted for breakfast and they answered, “Dairy Queen.” That was fine with Robinson.
But her daughter, in grade school, said, “Mom, what about the five food groups?” They went to DQ.
Robinson was the first executive director of Beacon, which was founded by Arapahoe County judges in the early 1970s, said Jerry Adamek, who then was juvenile detention center director for the county.
Robinson and her first husband, Eric Robinson, first lived in a house for at-risk kids. There are now three houses, at Fort Logan, accommodating 54 teens at a time.
“There had been no good place to deal with kids in trouble except jail,” Guthrie said.
“She had a remarkable influence” on the kids, many of whom stayed in touch with her for years, as well as people in the community, Guthrie said.
In addition to her ease with kids, Robinson had a knack for fundraising. “She was relentless, but soft-sell,” Adamek said.
“She never seemed to be marketing; she was just quietly charismatic. People trusted her and had confidence in her,” said Adamek, retired director of the state’s youth corrections division.
Robinson was often “the glue” in her own extended family, said her husband, Gary Ficklin. She would sometimes spur family members to have a work day at one of their homes, involving relatives in painting or any kind of repairing. “It was always a fun time,” Ficklin said.
Anne Thompson was born in Lincoln, Neb., on March 24, 1949, and graduated from Polk, Neb., high school. She earned a degree in social work at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. She and her first husband had two children. They divorced, and in 1994 she married Ficklin.
In addition to her husband and daughter, she is survived by her son, Braden Robinson of Parker; her parents, Lovie and Bill Thompson of Elbert; two sisters, Diane Moore of Steamboat Springs and Lori Orr of Elbert; and two brothers, William Thompson of Denver and Brad Thompson of Elbert.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
