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Obituary for Markham Gregory Robinson
Markham Gregory Robinson passed from the arms of his wife into the arms of his precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on August 25, 2021, from complications due to exposure to dangerous chemicals during his military service. He was 77 years old.
Born in Pueblo, Colorado, Markham spent some of his early childhood in the South and California. By the time he was 9 months old, he was speaking. At a very early age Markham realized that we are all sinners in need of a Savior, and he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord.
Because his father was a World War II era Army Air Force officer, the family spent two years in the Philippines beginning when Markham was 8 years old. Back in the States, the family settled in the Sacramento area, then moved to Vacaville. Graduating from Vacaville High School at the age of 16 in 1960, Markham attended UC Davis for two years majoring in Physics. He then transferred to UC Berkeley, switching to Philosophy. After discovering that the professors there believed all truth was relative, and that there was no such thing as Absolute Truth, he switched to Math obtaining a B.A. in Math in 1965. Ahead of his time, he joined the Cal Berkeley Debate Squad with a speech promoting a defensive missile protective shield, later known as the “star wars” defensive system.
Enrolling in the ROTC program at both universities, he entered active duty in 1966. His first duty assignment in the Army was to Fort Sill, OK, and then in Korea near the DMZ. In Korea as a Lieutenant, he served as Assistant Commandant and then as Commandant of the I Corps Group Artillery Specialist Academy. His duties took him constantly to the border of the DMZ. Leaving active duty for reserve duty in 1968, he entered the University of Oregon, Eugene, to obtain a PhD in Math. However, he and Mary fell in love and were married 2 ½ months after they met, so he left graduate school for employment. Employers included Burroughs Corporation, NCR, Litton Mellonics (satellite command and control), Varian Data Machines, and ProData.
In May of 1976, Markham and Mary founded Mark I Consultants. As part of the personal computing movement, they were vitally interested in the advent of micro computers. They attended the Home Brew Computer Club in the early days and even toured Apple's first assembly facility—Steve Wozniak's bureau! (It was not the garage, as is popularly supposed. Wozniak hit the big time when his mother kicked him out to the garage because she had no place in his bedroom to put his clean underwear.) Those were the days when users flipped switches, used paper tape to load programs on Altair and lmsai computers, and traded rumors. The Robinsons attended many computer shows (such as the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco when Jim Warren navigated the aisles on roller skates) and were attending Comdex in Las Vegas in November, 1980, when the MGM Grand burned.
Over the years Markham and Mary designed, wrote, tested, maintained, installed, supported, evaluated, sold, taught, and documented software and microcomputer hardware for clients such as Hewlett Packard. Contracts took them to the Swiss Credit Bank in Zurich, Switzerland, and to England for extended periods of time. Other clients included the State of California, the Veteran’s Administration, Best Foods, Shell Oil, Main Hurdman, and Siemens in Erlangen, Germany. At that time, Markham was the highest paid consultant Siemens had ever used. (He charged so much because he hadn’t wanted the contract.)
In 1985, Markham and Mary took over the ownership of MasterPlan Financial Software, a financial planning software package for financial professionals.
Markham passionately loved his country and knew and loved the U.S. Constitution and the founding documents. He followed the news and politics from the time he was a pre-teen. He ran for public office as a Republican and was active in the party Central Committee and the California Republican Assembly for several years.
In 2007, he joined the American Independent Party of California because it fit better with his pro-Constitution, pro-life, limited government convictions. He has served as Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, and Assistant Treasurer over the years, and as Chairman of the Executive Committee.
Markham loved discussing politics, philosophy, his faith, and the Bible and wrote extensively on many subjects (including Shakespeare). He loved mentoring people, especially young people.
He was extremely creative and analytical, and constantly thought “outside of the box.” These traits, plus his sense of humor, led to a following of up to 534,000 very varied Twitter aficionados.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Berl and Adele Robinson. He will be greatly missed by his wife Mary of over 52 years.
Burial will be at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon Friday, September 24th, at 10:30 am. All planning to attend should arrive by 10:15. A celebration of life will be held at Trinity Baptist Church later that day at 12:00 noon, followed by a light lunch. Friends and family are welcome at either or both services.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Trinity Baptist Church, 401 W. Monte Vista Ave., Vacaville, CA 95688, or to Gideons International, PO Box 6291, Vacaville, CA 95696. Or if you prefer, you can give online at www.tbcvacaville.com or www.Sendtheword.org. Arrangements are being handled by McCune Garden Chapel.
