Williamsburg public servant dies at 68

Former Whitley County ambulance service owner, volunteer firefighter and business owner Larry Robbins was remembered during funeral services Tuesday evening.

Robbins, 68, of Williamsburg, died on Saturday, Nov. 6, at Baptist Health Corbin.

In 1994, Robbins and his wife, Ginger, started Mountain Lifeline Ambulance Service after the pull-out of Transcare Ambulance Service, which was one of numerous failed ambulance services that had operated in Whitley County in the early 1990s.

Financially speaking, Mountain Lifeline started in the hole not being able to bill Medicare or insurance companies for the first three months of its existence because it didn’t yet have a certificate of need.

In the roughly six years that the couple owned the ambulance service, they often pulled shifts themselves treating wreck victims, helping transport people to doctors’ offices, and many other duties necessary to keep the service operating.

Mountain Lifeline made nearly 42,000 ambulance runs between 1994 and its closure on Feb. 2, 2001, when Whitley County EMS took over.

During a 2001 interview, Larry Robbins said the thing that he would probably miss most was the patients.

“We didn’t have what you would say a social life because it revolved around the ambulance service,” Larry noted about the couple’s time owning the ambulance service. “Being on call seven days a week, 24 hours a day not knowing when you are going to have to come down here kind of puts a hold on a lot of things. It has been very stressful because you never know from month to month what kind of income that you were going to have.”

Much of Larry Robbins life was devoted to serving others.

He was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force serving in Vietnam.

He was also a former firefighter with the Williamsburg Fire Department, was a former fire chief at the now defunct Western Central Volunteer Fire Department, and was a former deputy director for Whitley County Disaster and Emergency Services.

He enjoyed flying, motorcycle riding and most of all spending time with his family and church family. He was a member of Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, and was a former owner of Arby’s Restaurant.

His funeral service was held Tuesday Nov. 9, 2021, at Calvary Missionary Baptist Church with Rev. Travis Jones officiating.

A graveside service was scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at Piney Grove Cemetery with interment to follow. American Legion Post 88 in Corbin was slated to conduct graveside military honors Wednesday.

Condolences may be made to the family at www.ellisonfh.com.

For complete obituary information, see page A-11.