Robinson, Irwin Rudolph - In a world that increasingly seeks to celebrate greatness, the beauty of simple goodness is often overlooked. Robbie was a good man. He did not walk the halls of power or change the course of world history. But with quiet tenacity, hard work and intelligence he charted an 84-year life of goodness (almost 85!). Robbie believed the key to a good life was an open mind, a passion for knowledge and a sense of wonder. In his younger years, his formal education was frequently interrupted, usually by farm work for his own family or one of the many families for whom he worked after the breakup of his own. (How he hated those early morning milkings, managing to grab a few extra winks sleeping with his head propped against the belly of the warm cow.) But he loved to learn and earned his high school diploma in Clinton, Ont., attending night school after days spent working at the RCAF base. Robbie retired from the service in 1975 as a Master Warrant Officer and went on to complete a diploma in accounting at Loyalist College. Robbie's love of learning provided an important model for his family and he was alternately bemused and frustrated by those who thought that they had learned all they needed to know. Robbie was a peaceable man. He served his country for 30 years as a peacekeeper in a time when being a peacekeeper meant something. Robbie was a quiet man who felt no need to speak to fill silence. He loved deeply yet quietly and was hopelessly in love with his vivacious wife, Lorraine (nee Griffin). Through 52 years of marriage, he let Lorraine take the stage but provided an ever-steadying balance in her life and the lives of their children, Dean (Halifax) and Cheryl (Dr. Scott Theriault, Halifax), and their grandchildren, Jordan (Kingston, Ont.) and Rachel (Acadia University). Mika, the grand-dog quieted (usually) under his gentle hand, and Susan Kerr, invited daughter, enjoyed his support, friendship and counsel. In the four short months since he lost Lorraine, Robbie shared many quiet conversations with family and friends, exploring and revealing his philosophy of a life well lived: Regarding aging: "You're lucky to get that far"; regarding physical and philosophical differences: "Wouldn't it be a boring world if we were all the same"; and most remarkably, after a youth filled with physical and emotional turbulence, Robbie eschewed the theory of the perpetuation of violence and chose instead to build a life based on words he said more and more often as the years passed by: "I always wanted to help-not to hurt". Robbie's quiet, beautiful goodness will be missed by his many lifelong friends and certainly his family. Such simple goodness will always be remembered. By his firm request, there will be no formal service. Our family will gather in September when both Robbie and Lorraine's ashes will be interred in their home community of Pugwash Junction. Donations in his memory may be made to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).