They call themselves the Rockin' Robins.

Robins because they worked for A.H. Robins Co., the pharmaceutical company that is part of the Richmond area's storied business history. Rockin' because they are retirees, but they still like to get together and party.

The party comes every year, for 18 years now, on a spring day. Yesterday, about 115 retirees attended the reunion at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden to catch up with former co-workers and reminisce about their time with the company, which they all describe as a great place to work.

"Where else would you get half days off on Fridays and not have to make up the time?" said Larry Jaques, who was a chemist at Robins from 1978 to 1990, and travels from his home in Atlanta to attend the Rockin' Robins reunions. "Where else would you get $25 and the day off on your birthday? It's not a lot of money, but it was the thought behind it that counted."

A.H. Robins was founded in Richmond in 1889 and managed by the Robins family until 1989, when it was acquired by American Home Products Corp., now named Wyeth. Its products include such famous consumer products as ChapStick, Dimetapp and Robitussin. Wyeth employs about 1,200 people in the Richmond area.

At A.H. Robins, "we were one big family -- Mr. Robins made it that way himself," said retiree Helen Payne, referring to the late E. Claiborne Robins Sr., who held top executive posts at the company from the 1930s until his retirement in 1989.

Other retirees call Payne "the face of A.H. Robins" because she was a receptionist at the corporate office for 31 years and the first face visitors would see. "They came from all over the world," Payne said.

The Rockin' Robins include everyone from former executives to secretaries and factory workers such as Mitchell Mines, who worked in distribution for 28 years. "We were the axle in the wheel of the company," Mines said yesterday.

Some are among the hundreds who retired after the company's acquisition by American Home Products. That came in the wake of A.H. Robins' Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, itself a result of lawsuits filed by thousands of women alleging they were injured by the Dalkon Shield, a birth-control device that A.H. Robins distributed from 1971 to 1974.

But there were only good memories of the company around the tables yesterday. "We worked hard, but we also had a blast," said Bobbe Scruggs, who worked at there from 1979 to 1990 and recalled company picnics and sports festivals.

Membership in the Rockin' Robins is about 300 strong now, but the group is always looking for new members, said Martin Turpin, a former global supply chain manager for the company who helps organize retiree events, including an annual fall gathering.

"We enjoyed working together, and we want to stay together," Turpin said.
Contact John Reid Blackwell at (804) 775-8123 or jblackwell@timesdispatch.com.