OAK HARBOR, WA / RUSSELL, NY – Mernie E. Robinson, Jr., age 56, of Oak Harbor, WA, passed away on Sunday, August 3, 2014 at the PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham, WA.
Funeral arrangements with French Funeral Home, Gouverneur are incomplete.
Mernie was born in Gouverneur, NY on November 12, 1957 to the late Mernie E. Robinson, Sr. and Alice E. (Warren) Robinson. He graduated from the Knox Memorial High School in 1975.
In 1977 Mernie enlisted in the U.S. Navy where he received training as a Navy Metrologist. During his Naval career he was stationed aboard the USS Canopus (AS-34) where he provided technical support and calibration services to the U.S. Navy’s Fast Attack Submarine Force.
After receiving an honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy in 1984, Mernie spent his working career as a defense contractor for Kay & Associates, Inc. He was assigned to the Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratory in Naples, Italy where he provided direct support to the U.S. Navy’s Sixth Fleet aircraft carrier groups that were deployed to the region. He travelled extensively throughout the Mediterranean region including Spain, Greece, Egypt, France and Sicily.
After completing several years of service in the Mediterranean region and having become one of the top experts in his field, Mernie continued his career in Kuwait where he provided engineering support, training and calibration advice for the Kuwait Air Force Metrology Program.
Most recently Mernie was assigned in Washington State to the U.S. Naval Air Station, Whidbey Island at the Precision Measuring Equipment Laboratory. Mernie loved to travel, listen to Country and Western music, and watching old reruns of “Murder, She Wrote”, “The Andy Griffith Show”, Sci-Fi movies and tinkering with this 1973 Dodge Dart Swinger.
Mernie married Lori Case on September 20, 1997. He has a daughter, Miranda Robinson, from a previous marriage. He is also survived by his sister and brother-in-law, Kathy and Ed Carpenter of Hermon; his brother and sister-in-law, Tom and Anna Robinson of Kuwait; a grandson, Logan Mousaw; and several nieces and nephews.
He is predeceased by his parents and a brother, Danny Robinson who passed away in 2013.