Anne Durrum Robinson

Anne Durrum Robinson was in a hurry the past two months. She finished her last writings. She recorded seven CDs of stories and advice. She even asked a friend to bring her husband of five years to lunch so she finally could meet him.

It was as if Robinson knew her time was short. She must have had a hunch.

Robinson died Tuesday after suffering two heart attacks in the past week. She was 92 but ageless in her enthusiasm for life and zest for teaching others how to read their subconscious. She had taught a creativity class just hours before the first heart attack.

Robinson was an intuition guru with a worldwide reputation and the disposition of a fairy godmother.

For 30 years, she taught creative thinking classes in Austin and at international conferences. More recently, she turned her home near the University of Texas into a sort of brain salon, open to anyone interested in learning how to boost the mind's ability to recognize and use unconscious thought.

She called it the "Hunch Bunch at Lunch" and she presided over it from her wheelchair while wearing her trademark colorful muumuus and outfits with matching jewelry. Her giggles and gentle wisdom put everyone at ease, and participants adored her.

"She really believed in the power of intuition, people's hunches, and trusting that. And that we've gotten away from that over the centuries as human beings, and that the more complicated the world is, the faster the pace, and the more information there is, the more the need is to really return to that trust," said Phil Coleman, a computer systems trainer at the Texas Workforce Commission and a Hunch Bunch regular.

Robinson was ahead of her time, in some ways. Current American culture is recognizing the importance of intuition — note Malcolm Gladwell's No. 1 New York Times best-seller, "Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking" — but Robinson had pushed the power of intuition for decades.

Mary Howerton, director of instructional technology at St. Edward's University and another Hunch-Buncher, said it was a gift to be in Robinson's presence.

"What she always said was, 'We're born with intuition and creativity, and then we kind of get it hammered out of us.'"

Robinson graduated with a journalism degree from what is now Texas Woman's University and earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of Texas. In college, she interviewed Bonnie Parker before Parker and her outlaw lover, Clyde Barrow, were killed in a police ambush. She also interviewed Frances Perkins, secretary of labor under Franklin Roosevelt and the country's first female Cabinet secretary. Robinson never forgot Perkins' making a point by poking her in the chest with such force that she fell backward.

Early in her career she worked as an editor for Lady Bird Johnson's Austin radio station, KTBC. Other jobs included secretary, office manager, copy writer, magazine editor, broadcaster, account executive for advertising agencies, university teacher, building manager, and national and international speaker. She also wrote and performed on radio, TV, film and stage.

A celebration of Robinson's life will be held Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the Mabee Ballroom of the Ragsdale Center at St. Edward's University, 3001 S. Congress Ave. Visitation with family will begin at 2 p.m.

Robinson is survived by her husband of 60 years, Harold; daughter and son-in-law Lear and Scott Weaver of Columbia Falls, Mont.; five grandchildren; two great grandchildren; one niece and two nephews.