Morrell Steed Robinson

Morrell Steed Robinson, 93, of St. Johns, Florida, died on July 18, 2020. Morrell was born to Samuel Craven Robinson and Belle Steed on May 12, 1927, in Birmingham, Alabama. Morrell was raised in the Riverside section of Jacksonville, Florida. He and his family attended First Methodist Church of Jacksonville where Morrell was active in Sunday School and the Methodist Youth Fellowship. He received a call to ministry during a Methodist youth camp experience. He attended Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville where he lettered in track. He graduated from the Academy at Emory at Oxford in the summer of 1944 and entered the College at Oxford that fall as a pre-ministerial student. He was granted a local preacher’s license on November 10, 1944. He graduated from the Atlanta campus of Emory in 1947 and from the Emory Candler School of Theology in 1950 after majoring in New Testament Studies. While at Emory, he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and participated in intramural sports—baseball, softball, and track. He met his wife to be, Lois, while serving as associate pastor at First Methodist Church, Clearwater, Florida. They were married on August 26, 1952.  While Lois was completing her nursing degree at Emory, Morrell served as the pastor of Wesley Chapel in Decatur, Georgia. Morrell and Lois applied to work as missionaries through the Methodist Board of Missions and were assigned to Mayari, Cuba, moving there in February 1956. They served in Cuba until May of 1960, Morrell as a pastor and Lois as the director of the Churchwell Clinic for poor children. They served despite revolutionary activity carried out by supporters of Fidel Castro in the mountains around Mayari. After his service in Cuba, Morrell returned to the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church where he served until his retirement in 1991. In addition to his work in Cuba, he started a Hispanic congregation at Tampa Heights United Methodist Church in Tampa, Florida. He served at Allapattah United Methodist Church in Miami from 1967 till 1971 and as the urban minister to Miami from 1973 to 1979, where he developed and extended special ministries by United Methodists for the urban area.  In one of his last appointments, he began working with Haitians in the Ft. Pierce, Florida area, resulting in the establishment of a United Methodist congregation. As a member of the clergy, he was outspoken in favor of civil rights and the rights of LGBTQ people. He received recognition for his participation in the cause of peace and justice from the Coalition for Arms Limitation and Survival in 1979, and he received the Plumbline Award from the Florida Methodist Federation for Social Action in 2002.

He is survived by his wife, Lois, and three children: Steed (Jean), Esther, and George Robinson. Also, his sister, Sammie (John) Wilder, two grandsons, James (Sarah Parsons) and Matthew (Lauren) Robinson, great grandson Michael Robinson, and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Memorial services will be held later. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the United Methodist Committee on Relief at https://www.umcmission.org/umcor.