Pearl Robinson was born on August 19, 1904, in the town of Stanley, Chippewa County, Wisconsin, to Culver and Minnie Hayes Thurber. Culver Ralph Thurber separated from Minnie just a few years after the birth of Pearl and went on to remarry. Pearl maintained a close relationship with her mother until Minnie’s death in 1945. On April 15, 1922, Pearl married her first husband, George R. Ranow, who she described in multiple letters to her mother. She graduated from the Eau Claire State Normal School with a Teacher’s Diploma in Education in 1926. She graduated from George Washington University in 1927 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a minor in History. She then went on to teach at George Washington High School in Alexandria, Virginia. Around 1931, Pearl separated from George Ranow. In 1939 she graduated from George Washington University with a master’s degree in English and a minor in History. It is estimated that she married her second husband Vernon Lee Robinson in the early 1940s, but she separated from him in 1948. Pearl passed away in 1979.

Pearl was an instructor in Aeronautics in Washington D.C. Public Senior High Schools from 1941-1950. During this time, she helped to organize Aviation Courses that would be used all throughout the senior high schools in Washington D.C. She is also the leading author of the books Before You Fly: Essentials of Aeronautics and published many articles for professional magazines. She received the “Certificate of Merit” from the U.S. Navy in recognition of her work with students surrounding model aircrafts during World War II, as well as the Trophy Award from the Washington Air Derby Association for her contributions to aviation education in public schools. Pearl’s love of teaching aviation in public schools extended to flying, in which she had a license to fly planes and owned her own plane.