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SAN BENITO — Family and friends Tuesday remembered Robert Tumberlinson as San Benito High School’s iconic principal “Mr. T” who went on to become a longtime school board member who helped shape the district’s politics.
Tumberlinson died Monday surrounded by family members.
He was 85.
Tumberlinson was born March 27, 1938, in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of Leon and Grace Russell Tumberlinson, both of whom were from Oktibiha County, Mississippi, where their families settled in the early 1800s, founding the farming community of Morgantown.
Tumblinson celebrated his fifth birthday on the road to San Benito, where his paternal grandmother owned land.
Growing up in San Benito, he attended San Benito High School, where he was an active member of the FFA, awarded its highest state award, the Lone Star Farmer Degree.
Tumberlinson was also a charter member of the high school’s Key Club and a life-long member of the Kiwanis Club, serving as president and lieutenant governor of Division 11 of the Texas Oklahoma Division. The highlight of his term as lieutenant governor was his installation as a Matamoros Kiwanis Club officer in Spanish.
In 1956, Tumberlinson graduated from San Benito High School before going on to Texas A&M College, where he found the study of plants and animals a natural path.
Tumberlinson grew up in the San Benito Methodist Church where his parents attended.
In 1960, Tumberlinson graduated with a commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Army before serving in active duty in New Orleans.
Upon completion, he took a job with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Alvin, where he planned soil conservation activities with local farmers and ranchers.
After active duty, Tumberlinson served in the U.S. Army Reserves for nine years.
In 1969, he completed his military obligation with a rank of captain and the position of commanding officer with the Harlingen U.S. Army Reserve Unit.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Tumberlinson served on the Dolly Vinsant Memorial Hospital board and scholarship board.
For his dedication to his work with agricultural students at San Benito High School, Tumberlinson was awarded Honorary Chapter Farmer and Honorary State FFA degrees.
In 1988, Tumberlinson married Sandra Longoria, both members of the 1st Presbyterian Church, where he was a ruling elder for many years while also serving on the building and grounds committee.
“He believed in serving his community and doing the best he could for the children,” his wife said in an interview. “He loved life and he loved people.”
He was generous and kind and very loving. He loved animals and children and was a hunter, a gardener and a farmer. He could grow anything. He always had a very big garden up until last year when he got too weak.”
In 1962, Tumberlinson took a job as science teacher at San Benito Junior High School before working in administration, taking a job as an assistant principal before serving as San Benito High School’s principal for more than 15 years.
During a graduation ceremony in 1973, Frutoso Gomez remembered when Tumberlinson handed him his diploma.
Decades later, Gomez, now a San Benito school board member, met Tumberlinson at the Kiwanis Club.
“He did a lot of community service for the San Benito community,” Gomez said. “He was an educator. A lot of people knew him through the education field and as a school board member. He was a fine gentleman and human being.”
After retiring in 2002 following a 41-year career, Tumberlinson was elected to the district’s school board, where he served nine years.
“Bob was a true professional,” former Superintendent Antonio Limon, who worked with Tumberlinson on the board, said. “He was a great board member to work with. Our prayers are with his family.”
While Tumberlinson served as the school board’s president, the board named the district’s new football stadium in honor of San Benito native son Bobby Morrow.
An outdoorsman, Tumberlinson excelled at gardening, fishing and hunting.
In the West, his travels were the most fun, when he looked for arrow points, studied the geology of the mountains and dug for fossils which he mounted in the walls of his house.
At home, his vegetable garden was extensive, with his citrus trees yielding fruit he’d share with friends.
Tumberlinson was preceded in death by his parents; his brother Don; his maternal uncle John (Jean) Russell; his paternal uncle Reuben (Frances) Tumberlinson; and his in-laws, Raul and Celia Longoria.
He is survived by his wife Sandra; his children, daughter Janice and son Robert Jr. (Mary) from his first marriage to Jahn Locke; his sisters-in-law Arlene Tumberlinson and Dolores Ramirez; his cousins, Carol Tumberlinson Seavey, Jimmy, Lee and Johnny Russell; and his nieces LeAnn (Tom) Jaeger and Andrea (Sean) Dvoran.
Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Buck Ashcraft San Benito Funeral Home, 1400 W. Business 77, San Benito.
A Celebration of Life will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at the First Presbyterian Church of San Benito, 566 N. Reagan St., followed by a graveside service and military burial at Mont Meta Memorial Park.
Pallbearers will include Joe Salinas, Jr., class of 1979; Oscar De La Fuente, Jr., class of 1979; Brad Peak, family member; Richard Brotzman, Kiwanis Club president; Sean Dvoran, family member; David Hugo Garcia, family member; David Saul Munoz, family member; and Oscar Medrano, class of 1990.
Honorary Pallbearers include Bobby Cantu, Philip Oliver, Ben Fry, Chuck Ratliff, Donnie Shafer, Gerald Haak, Bill McNutt, Stephen Haynes, Lonnie Davis, George McShan, Frutoso Gomez and Ray Martinez.
Funeral arrangements are under the care of Buck Ashcraft San Benito Funeral Home, 1400 W. Business 77, San Benito, www.sanbenitofuneralhome.com, 956.361.9192.
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in Tumberlinson’s memory, please visit the funeral home’s floral store.
