Robin Lawson of Ashland, Oregon died on Sunday of a rare brain disease..... he was 70years old. Robin Lawson was born Jan. 24, 1939 in England and spent his formative years there during World War II. He emigrated to the United States at 19. He became a "personality" in Southern Oregon where he was known as a jazz musician, TV and radio journalist and served for 8 years as an assistant to Republican Congressman Bob Smith.
He also had a long running one man show where he acted as Winston Churchill. A number of years ago I took our then 10 year old daughter to one of his shows put on at the downtown Medford Southern Oregon Historical Society Building. It was a wonderful show and we both loved it. I had started reading to our children some of Winston Churchill's books,in place of bedtime stories, when they were very young in order that they would share my admiration for Winston Churchill as the greatest person of the 20th Century. Robin's performance bought Churchill to life for our daughter. A few years after watching Robin Lawson's show our daughter did her own show as Winston Churchill at a 6th grade school program known as "Night of the Notables." I still have that picture of her with that unlit cigar, bowler hat and vested suite. She now works for a US Congressman in Washington DC. Summer before last she took her mother and I on a trip to England and we all went to Churchill's home at Chartwell and also went to Churchill's World War II Bunker in Whitehall where he and his war cabinet directed the war during the London Blitz.
A few years ago I was performing a wedding ceremony in Ashland and Robin Lawson was one of the guests. I wanted to go over to him to express my appreciation for his performance as Churchill. The ceremony started and I didn't get a chance. I now wish I had.
I don't' know if there is a Heaven; but, if there is I hope Winston and Robin are sitting by a fireplace in overstuffed chairs having cigars and brandy together.
(Click on the title for the Mail Tribune news story about Robin Lawson)
