Hansford N. Robinette

COEBURN, Va. - Hansford Neal Robinette of Coeburn, the father of local resident Jeanette Ringley of Mountain View, N.C., died Wednesday, July 15, 2009. He was 93. A memorial service was conducted Saturday, July 18, 2009, at the chapel of Estes Funeral Home in Coeburn, with interment in Temple Hill Cemetery in Castlewood. A native of Wise County, he was born Sept. 13, 1915, and was the last member of the George Preston and Nannie Elizabeth Holbrook Robinette family of 11 children that began in the late 1890s to die. Robinette was a grandson of a Confederate veteran of the Civil War. "Hank," as he was known to his friends and family, was a retired farmer, coal miner, small engine repairman and carpenter. A steam engine train and railroad buff, he was featured in The Jitterbug magazine in 2002, a quarterly publication of the Carolina Clinchfield Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, for his many years of "being a good neighbor" with friendly waves to passing train engineers from the front porch of his home in the Carfax community. Robinette also was featured in the "Coeburn, Virginia, Area History," a 1994 book commemorating the centennial of the town of Coeburn, including his recollection of the history of the Carfax area, where his father and grandfather operated a general store in the 1920s. Survivors include his wife of 73 years, Gracie Mae Corder Robinette; three daughters, Lena Hite, Dorothy Musick and Lawrence Musick of Coeburn and Jeanette Ringley and husband, Gerald Ringley, of Hickory, N.C.; two sons, Ray W. Robinette and wife, Brenda, of Coeburn and Larry N. Robinette and wife, Linda, of Cedar Vale, Kan.; eight grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.