William J. Robinson Jr. Obituary
William J. Robinson, of Gloucester, Massachusetts, formerly of Boxborough, Massachusetts, beloved father, husband, grandfather and friend to many, died from natural causes, at his home, on February 17, 2025. He was 87 years of age.
A native of both Arlington, Massachusetts, and Gloucester, Massachusetts, Bill spent his youth playing hockey and baseball and was a notorious ring leader amongst his many friends and teammates. A gifted storyteller, with an encyclopedic recollection of events, Bill's bold personality and knack for questionable antics, set the stage for thousands of stories, with an endless cast of characters, including his close friends Larry Kelly, John Turner, Dan Daley, and many others. As a standout hockey player at Malden Catholic High School, Bill went on to graduate from Boston University, class of 1961, where he lettered in Ice Hockey and received his degree in Physical Education.
On a rainy Saturday afternoon, in the Spring of 1960, Bill's life took a turn for the better, when, after having a game rained out for his American Legion baseball team, he proceeded to round up a few friends and headed out for an adult beverage, at a tavern in Kenmore Square. Upon settling in with a cold beer, he used his considerable charm, to chat up a young nurse who had recently moved to Boston, from Halifax, Nova Scotia. By Christmas of that year, Bill was engaged to Florence Doucet, and the two were wed in June of 1961.
Initially making their home in Melrose, Massachusetts, Bill and Florence welcomed their first son, Billy, into the World, in June of 1962. Over the next 11 years, the new family moved several times for Bill's coaching and teaching career, which included a stint in Lewiston, Maine, where Bill coached the 1963 Lewiston High School hockey team to a state championship. As Bill and Florence built their family, their first born son, William John, was joined by sons Jude Paul, Michael Patrick, Francis Xavier, and Daniel Joseph. In the late 1960s, at the prompting of his wife Florence, Bill started a side business running summer hockey camps for young athletes. Bill's schools rapidly grew into a venture that developed several hundred young hockey players, in the greater Boston area, during the hockey craze of the early 1970s. During this time, Bill also partnered in ventures building and running ice rinks, including Assabet Valley Sports Arena, in Concord, Massachusetts. The youth teams that he coached, included an Acton, Massachusetts boy's Squirt team that captured a national championship, in 1973. Bill's four decades of coaching also included starting the boy's ice hockey program at Lowell High School, in 1966, where he coached, intermittently, until his retirement, in 1999.
Bill and Florence had moved to Boxborough, Massachusetts, in 1973, where they stayed, raising their family for 27 years, and made many friends, while their sons grew and made lives of their own. After Bill's retirement from teaching and coaching, he and Florence moved permanently to West Gloucester, Massachusetts, where Bill had spent many summers at a family cottage, going back to his childhood.
In the early 2000s, Bill started Lifeboat Ministries. With the help of his friend Mitch Latoff, he produced an extensive series of half-hour shows for local cable television, broadcasted on community access channels, across Massachusetts. "The Good News Show" featured Bill interviewing guests about their Christian faith, allowing them to share their own unique life changing testimonies and paths to salvation, through Christ.
Bill's deep, enduring faith was the guiding motivation in his life. As a gifted leader, coach and teacher, Bill brought his unrelenting drive to many Christian outreach ministries, including prison ministries, Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Teen Challenge, Cursillo, Bridge Church, and others. Bill had also counseled many people through his involvement with the Alcoholics Anonymous organization.
Bill is predeceased by his father, William J. Robinson; his mother, Mabel Phillips; his sister, Jean Gruber; his Stepfather, Frank Phillips; and his son William J. Robinson, Jr. He is survived by his wife, Florence L. Robinson, his son Jude Paul and wife Cindy Robinson of Leominster; his son Michael and wife Kathy Robinson of Leominster, his son Frank Robinson and his husband Brian Yano of Kihei, Hawaii; and his son Daniel Robinson of Deerfield, New Hampshire. He is also survived by his grandchildren Danielle Robinson, Michelle Perrine, Mark Robinson, John Robinson and Christina Springman; his great grandsons Jude Perrine, Jasper Perrine and Justus Perrine, as well as his Brother-in-Law, Rev. Daniel Doucet.
All are invited to a memorial service will be held at the Gloucester Elks, at 1:00 PM, on Sunday, March 30. A luncheon reception will be hosted by the Robinson family, immediately following the service. Arrangements by the Greely Funeral Home, 212 Washington Street, Gloucester.
