GWILYM R. ROBERTS

GWILYM R. ROBERTS FARMINGTON – Gwilym R. Roberts, 88, one of Maine’s best-known college professors and public speakers for many years, died Tuesday, May 10, 2005, at his home in Farmington. For more than 60 years, he was closely associated with the college which is now the University of Maine at Farmington. He was born Jan. 23, 1917, in Brownville, the son of William and Grace (Griffith) Roberts. His father and three grandparents were immigrants to that Welsh slate-quarrying community. A graduate of Brownville High School and Farmington State Normal School, he taught in Greenville Junior High School before completing his bachelors of science and master of arts degrees at the University of Maine in Orono. Later, he did graduate work in history at Columbia University and, on a Fulbright Grant, at the University College of North Wales in Bangor, North Wales. In 1940, he was hired as a one-year substitute at Farmington Normal School, where he remained as a member of the history department for 43 years. He served as chairman of that department, dean of instruction, and, for 11 years, as the first dean of instruction of the University of Maine at Farmington, which existed under five different names during his years of service. After studying Welsh as a foreign language, he researched in Wales and in the United States on slate quarries and quarry villages in Wales and in New England, and on the migration of slate quarry families from Wales to America. His book on this subject, New Lives in the Valley, was published in 1998 and went into a second printing in 2000. He was awarded the Hopkins Medal, the highest honor of St. David’s Society of New York State, in 1999, and in October of 2001, he received the George Jones Medal of Green Mountain College for his work in preserving the Welsh-American heritage. During his teaching career, he spoke at dozens of high school commencements and to local historical societies and other groups. For many years, he wrote historical and current events columns for the local newspaper, the Franklin Journal, and in the 1990’s he served as guest columnist for the Portland Press-Herald. In retirement, he founded the UMF Alumni Travel Program, leading hundreds of alumni in summer trips to most of Europe and to China. Moderator of the Farmington Town Meeting for 20 years, he served in the Maine House of Representatives in 1985-87 as a Democrat representing the normally Republican Farmington district. He was a member and former officer of the Old South Congregational Church in Farmington, and served on the board of directors of the Androscoggin Home Health Services. An enthusiastic skier for more than 50 years, he served as co-director of the Farmington Junior Ski Program. In 1990, he skied in the Swiss Alps with the UMF Alumni Travel group. In 1989, the largest classroom building on the UMF campus was named the Gwilym R. Roberts Learning Center. Because of his strong support of athletics, he was one of the three original members of the UMF Athletic Hall of Fame when that organization was created in 1994. At the 1995 UMF Commencement, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters, and the Gwilym R. Roberts Scholarship Fund was created by alumni to assist UMF undergraduates in foreign study. He is survived by his wife, of 55 years, Patricia Keith Roberts of Farmington; and by five daughters, Beth Roberts of Albany, N.Y., Janet Roberts of Brunswick, Megan Roberts of Farmington, Sara Roberts of Farmington, Meredith Roberts of Bristol, Vt., and her fianc?, Jeff Rehbach, of Cornwall, Vt.; two granddaughters, Rachelle Pean and Seikah Raye Turner Roberts; a brother, Paul Roberts and his wife, Ruth, of Freeport, Fla.; one niece and four nephews. He was predeceased by a sister, Constance Sawtell of Brownville. Public memorial visitation will be held 5-8 p.m. Friday, May 13, at the Wiles Remembrance Center, 137 Farmington Falls Rd., (Rtes. 2 & 27), Farmington. Public memorial services will be held 2:30 p.m. Saturday, May 14, from Old South Congregational Church, Main Street, Farmington, with the Rev. Cathie Wallace officiating. Following services, all are welcome to attend a family reception next door at the Holman Parish House. UMF will host a memorial celebration of Gwil’s life 3 p.m. Friday, June 3, in the Nordica Auditorium, UMF. Those who desire may give gifts in his memory to the Gwilym R. Roberts International Study Scholarship Fund, care of Ferro Alumni House, 242 Main St., Farmington, ME 04938.