Moapa Valley Progress Founder, John Z. Robison, Dies At 73

Moapa Valley Progress

PROGRESS founder, John Z. Robison died on Tuesday, February 25, 2019 in St. George, Utah at the age of 73. Robison started the PROGRESS in September 1987, and was involved in its operation for more than 31 years.

During that time, John became nearly synonomous with the PROGRESS publication. Wherever there was something going on, great or small, in Moapa Valley, he was instinctively on the scene, camera in hand, ready to capture it in photos for the newspaper. Robison enjoyed publishing extensive photo essays of Moapa Valley people, places and events.

John was born on December 20, 1945. He was the eighth of 10 children in the family of Dell Hinckley and Pearl Wittwer Robison.

John was proud of the unusual circumstances of his birth. He was actually born on a two-lane highway between Las Vegas and Logandale, near the Union Pacific Railroad “watering” town of Dry Lake, Nevada.

“I arrived in a fast moving ‘42 Ford with a flat-head V-8 engine, driven floor-boarded by a nervous dad with a baby, determined to arrive two months premature,” John wrote in an auto-biographical sketch.

This wild opening to his life earned him the family nickname of “Dry Lake Johnny.” It was a story that he loved to tell.

John was also proud of his upbringing on a small farm in the desert town of Logandale. He enjoyed relating fond memories of growing up in a large family. He was strongly connected to his family and could always remember details of what each of his siblings, their children and their children’s children were doing.

John had a talent for remembering details of local history. His expertise was not necessarily in areas of official history with all of its accurate dates, times and places. But he remembered all about the people: the folk-style kind of history of local people’s comings and goings, their families and their children.

John could relate layers of this type of history related to almost every spot in the Moapa Valley. One couldn’t drive with him down the highway through town without hearing him tell one story after another of the way things used to be in the community. He was always proud of his community and his farm-boy upbringing.

John received his education from Moapa Valley schools. He attended the Logandale Elementary School as a child. He went to Moapa Valley High School, graduating in the class of 1963. While there he was an active member of the local FFA chapter and served for a time as its president. He also studied with legendary MVHS Art teacher Max Bunnell which began a lifelong love of drawing and painting.

At the age of 19, John was called to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Guatemala and El Salvador. Upon his return, he brought back an exotic bird, a scarlet macaw which he named Pepi. He kept the bird as a beloved pet and companion for more than 40 years.

John spent a brief time in the U.S. Navy Reserve stationed in San Diego, California but received an honorable discharge due to health matters.

After that, he returned home to southern Nevada and worked for a time as a driver for Mercy Ambulance in Las Vegas. It was then that he met Malinda Clark who was working as a nurse in a Las Vegas hospital. After a brief courtship, the two were married on December 11, 1971 in the St. George Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In 1974, John and Malinda opened the first Sears Merchant Store in Overton which was located in the downtown building that currently houses the law office of Theresa Holzer.

This business was a catalog order store that served the community well for many years. After six years in that business, John sold the store to another local businessman.
He then went to work for another local start-up enterprise: the Lake Mead Monitor newspaper in Logandale. This publication was opened by John’s older brother, local real estate broker, Bryant Robison. It was operated for a time out of a back room in the Robison Real Estate office.

While at the Monitor, John sold advertising, did photography and darkroom developing and worked on the newspaper layout.

When the Monitor was merged with the Valley Herald newspaper and moved to an office in Overton, John followed it. He continued working there for another two years.

In 1984, Malinda’s parents began experiencing health problems. So the couple decided to relocate to the coal mining districts of southwestern Virginia, where Malinda’s parents lived, to offer assistance.

John worked for a time at an office supply business in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, selling to businesses in the area. He was fond of the countryside and culture of Virginia and he felt at home amongst its people. He was proud of the back-woods family heritage that he shared through marriage.

After the death of Malinda’s parents, the couple returned to their home in Logandale. John worked for a time as Assistant Manager at Coast to Coast Hardware Store in Overton which was owned by Heber Tobler.

By 1987, though, John observed that there was a need for a newspaper in the Moapa Valley to report town news and promote local businesses. So he started the Moapa Valley PROGRESS. The first edition of the newspaper hit the streets on September 2 that year.

In the beginning, John partnered with his nephew Bradley Risk and his wife Suzanne. They ran the business out of their homes. Much of the typesetting at that time was done on an old Macintosh computer. The page layout was done by pasting strips of paper to a large paste board. Then the pasteboard was taken physically to the press each week. for printing. John continued a similar process for more than 17 years.

In 1993, Brad and Suzanne moved to Arizona and John continued to run the newspaper on his own. He basked in the process of chronicling the simple and common moments of small town life in the newspaper. He partnered with Moapa Valley High School faculty to provide coverage of sports and other high school events. And he involved various community members in gathering and reporting news.

John was a friend to every business owner in town. He loved to help promote their business services and products to the community. He was a great cheerleader for commerce and growth in the Moapa Valley community.

John spent many years being involved with the Moapa Valley Chamber of Commerce, even serving as its President.

But perhaps his most treasured professional association was with the Moapa Valley Rotary Club. John was a charter member of the club having joined when the local Rotary organization was established in 1975. He remained faithful about attending the Club’s weekly breakfast meetings and other activities throughout the rest of his life. He had great love and respect for his Rotary brothers and sisters with whom he forged lifelong friendships.

In November 2004, looking to move towards retirement, John entered a partnership with his nephew Vernon Robison. Vernon took over day-to-day operation of the newspaper. But John continued to work as Executive Publisher of the PROGRESS. He continued to be an integral part of the newspaper, assisting with its distribution and advising on news content.

After Malinda passed away in January of 2012, John experienced a slow decline in his health. But he continued to be active in Rotary. And he continued to be plugged in to the goings-on of the community. Every morning he could be found at Overton McDonald’s with the local senior “breakfast club” socializing with friends and talking about the events of the day.

Eventually, though, John’s health condition deteriorated to the point that he needed to be closer to health care services. So he relocated to St. George, Utah for what would be the final few years of his life.

Despite that, he still stayed connected to the Progress and to events and stories going on in Moapa Valley. He was a prompt online reader of the newspaper and enjoyed receiving a hard copy of the Progress every week by mail. And he regularly stayed in contact with Vernon on story ideas that he felt should be covered.

“He always had an amazing instinct for local news stories, especially on the human interest angles that were going on out there in the community,” said Vernon Robison. “Somehow, he always knew what folks in town were doing that would make great news. We will truly miss him. I’m afraid that the Progress just won’t be the same without Uncle John around.”

Funeral services were held on Tuesday, March 5 in Logandale. Interment took place at the Logandale Cemetery.