Laura Lucretia Staten was the ninth child born to the union of John Christopher Staten and Laura Mae Farmer Staten on October 30, 1911. Both parents and nine of her siblings preceded her in death.
She began her formal education in the Farmington, Missouri Public School System. Her family moved to St. Louis, where she enrolled in the St. Louis Public School District. Her mother passed when she was the age of 13. Her father and her older sister, Bertha, reared her. After her mother’s death she joined St. James AME Church. Laura graduated from Charles Sumner High School and was inducted into Sumner’s first National Honor Society. Following graduation, Laura attended Stowe Teacher’s College and later obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education. In 1935, Laura married the love of her life, Hilliard Marion Robinson. Together they raised four daughters, Monica Lucretia (deceased 1975), Hilda Marion (deceased 1988), Edythe Valeria and Laurel Theresa. Unfortunately after 50 years of marriage, Hilliard Robinson was called hone in 1985.
Laura’s legacy is left with her two daughters, Edythe Alexander Granberry and Laurel Bell (Cleophus); one sister, Sarah Emily Staten; one niece, Wilhelmenia Smith; one nephew, William Humphrey (Beaulah); six grandchildren, Valerie Spain, Pamela Hill (James), Myron Alexander (Wendy), Hilliard Carroll, Monica Miller and Meaghan Bell; seven great-grandchildren, Courtney Alexander, Michael Lomax, Mia Lomax, Myron Alexander, Jr., Alexandria Hill, Kaitlyn Alexander and Damaris Bell; two great-great grandchildren, Michaela Lomax and Malik Lomax; a lifelong friend Ms. Ledora Wright and a host of relatives and friends.