ANNE ROBINSON
PVA NATIONAL VICE PRESIDENT
“There is no one better to help guide a Veteran with
a new spinal cord injury than someone who has
rolled in the same path.”
Anne Robinson grew up in a small town in South Texas. Her father, a World War II Veteran who participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, had a
significant influence on her decision to serve in the U.S. Army. He would share stories about his time in the Army, which piqued Robinson’s curiosity and fueled her desire to serve as well.
She joined the Army in April, 1988. In October, 1999, while deploying on a training exercise to Fairbanks, Alaska, she sustained a spinal cord injury as a result of a military vehicle accident. At the time of the accident, she and her husband, Harry had been married for 12 years, and had two children, Justin and Rebecca, who were 8 and 6 years old.
After being stabilized in Anchorage, Robinson was medevacked to San Antonio, Texas where she began rehabilitation at the Audie L Murphy VA Spinal Cord Injury Center. Three days after arriving on the spinal cord unit, Robinson was introduced to PVA through a National Service Officer (NSO) and a peer mentor.
The NSO helped to quickly get Robinson’s benefits started from the VA and handled her retirement from the Army 6 months after her injury, which helped pull Robinson out of a very tough time both financially and emotionally.
Her peer partner, Charlie, started the conversation of how to live an adapted life successfully and fully, and he introduced Robinson to the rest of the PVA family in San Antonio.
That wonderful group of people surrounded both Robinson and her family, lifting them up, teaching them, and caring like no other community that she had been involved with. Robinson believes that if they had not had the PVA family, they would have not been near as successful overcoming the challenges of her spinal cord injury and learning how to live life to its fullest as a family.
Robinson joined the PVA Texas Chapter in 2000, and became an advocacy director just 10 months after her injury. Since then, she has served that chapter in many different positions including Satellite Director, Advocacy Director, Vice President, Chapter President and most recently as National Director.
Robinson has a passion for peer mentoring and believes it is one of the most important things PVA members can do, ensuring that new injuries have the same advantages and positive outcomes as those that came before them did. There is no one better to help guide a Veteran with a new spinal cord injury than someone who has rolled in the same path.
Robinson has served on many national PVA committees, including the Judicial Committee, Budget & Finance Committee, Audit Committee, Strategic Planning, as well as serval ad hoc committees.
Robinson also serves on the Anita Bloom Women Veterans Committee, which she, PVA Vice President Tammy Jones and then-PVA President David Zurfluh established in 2016. This is a standing committee that represents the women Veterans of PVA, and has allowed many new opportunities to grow the participation of PVA women within the organization, created new leadership opportunities and has given a voice to a very wonderful group of women whose needs from the VA went unheard for quite a while. The committee is achieving a milestone this year with PVA’s 5th Women Veterans Empowerment Retreat, and Robinson loves to see all the smiles and the camaraderie among the women during the several-day event. Robinson is excited and encouraged to see so many women taking leadership positions at chapters, and her hope is that it creates the interest to serve at the national level also.
When Robinson is not “volunteering” for PVA, you can find her at home in Helotes, Texas, hanging out with her grandchildren, Shelby and Cooper, or enjoying Boccia or bowling. She has learned to seize the moments, to capture the experience and to make things as enjoyable as possible, because
tomorrow is not guaranteed, so she believes you must make your mark while you can.