Though he might not have been in the best health, helping people made Ali Robinson feel good.
He was quick to aid those in distress and often times found himself in positions to do so, he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2010. At the time, Robinson had been in the right place at the right time twice in a two-week period.
In October 2010, he assisted one of his neighbors in chasing down a toddler who was running the middle of their street; and days later, he and another man helped a MARTA passenger who’d fallen onto the tracks at Five Points.
“I’m just thankful to God almighty that we were able, both times, to help somebody,” he said then. “Because it feels good to help people.”
Robinson — who had a bad back, high blood pressure, heart problems and walked with a limp — didn’t let his ailments stop him from lending a hand, said his wife Verna Manns-Robinson of Atlanta.
“So many people called on him,” she said. “Neighbors, friends and family. He never had money to give them, but he always had time.”
Robinson, of Atlanta, died June 15 from cardiac-related complications, days before he was to receive a pacemaker, his wife said. He was 56. His body was cremated by Hines Home of Funerals. A memorial service is planned for 11 a.m. Saturday at Center Hill Baptist Church, Atlanta.
A Chicago native, Robinson relocated to Atlanta after meeting the woman who would become his wife, she said. He came to town 25 years ago with a relative of hers and they had a chance meeting.
“He came back five months later, and we’ve been together ever since,” Manns-Robinson said. “We finally got married in 2008.”
Robinson, who was around 5-foot 7-inches and 125 pounds, held a number of jobs, including Army engineer, dockworker and laborer for a freight company. He was known among those he worked alongside as a hard worker with a good sense of humor and a giving spirit.
“For a little guy, he had one of the biggest hearts of anyone I’ve ever known,” said long-time friend David Hendrix, of Lithia Springs. “He was also like Sammy Davis Jr. and George Jefferson mixed together; he was a fiery little guy.”
Hendrix said he worked with Robinson at the Georgia World Congress Center, helping set up and dismantle trade shows and conventions.
“He was so full of energy,” he said.
Manns-Robinson said the man who fell onto the MARTA tracks in 2010 stayed in touch with her husband. Hearing periodically from the man, who recently died, always brightened Robinson’s day, she said.
“He wanted to save the world,” Manns-Robinson said of her husband. “And, each time he could do something for someone else, he was happy to do it.”
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