BANGOR and DANVERS, Mass. – Robert Coffin White, 74, loving husband, father, grandfather and friend, died March 14, 2006, at the Maine Veterans’ Home, Bangor. He was born Dec. 20, 1931, in Harrington, the son of Isabelle (Perry) White and Donald M. White. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his brother, Joseph White of Ellsworth. Bob graduated from Harrington High School in 1949 and then attended a year of prep school at Higgins Classical Institute in Charleston. He graduated from the University of Maine in Orono with a BS degree in engineering physics in 1954. Bob was a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity. After graduation Bob accepted a position with General Electric and worked for 39 years as a senior design engineer, receiving special awards and recognition for his creative designs for test equipment and computers. Bob enlisted in the Air Force and was stationed in Iceland where he was an interceptor controller during the Korean War. He was proud of his commission as a second lieutenant. Bob and his wife, Sue, lived in Bangor for seven years. Prior to that they resided in Danvers, Mass. for 36 years where they raised their family. They spent many summer vacations in Maine and Georgia. Throughout his life Bob was an active member of the Methodist Church. He was always happy to offer his services to help others, whether it was maintenance or gardening on the church grounds, helping to build the Methodist Church in Columbia, delivering Meals on Wheels in Bangor or volunteering for the Civil Defense in Danvers, Mass. Bob was a ham radio operator and an Eagle Scout. He enjoyed woodworking and carpentry, genealogy, gardening, stamp collecting, chess, camping and most of all family gatherings and picking blueberries with his family in Maine. He was a 50-year member of Tuscan Lodge in Addison and a member of Amity Lodge, Danvers, Mass. and a Shriner at Anah Shrine Temple in Bangor. Bob is survived by his loving wife of 46 years, Gwendolyn Sue White and three children, Gwen Hammond and her husband, Michael, of Surrey, England, Miriam Lucy and her husband, Robert, of Bangor and Donald White and his wife, Kelly Davis, of Casco; his grandchildren, Jennifer, Christine and Michelle Lucy, Robert and Isabelle Davis-White and stepgrandchildren, Corrinne and Nicholas Hammond. He is also survived by his sister-in-law, Lorraine White; his niece, Maria White of Ellsworth; and his nephew, John White and his wife, Dawn and their daughter, Lauren, of Lamoine. Additional survivors include his aunts and uncles of Gloucester, Mass., Miriam Eklund and her children, Nancy Mania and her husband, Ron, Diane Meehan and her husband, Michael, Eleanor and Jim Wile and Fred and Martha Perry; and several cousins in Massachusetts. He is also survived by his brother-in-law, Dudley McClain of Atlanta; sisters-in-law, Louise Melton of Conyers, Ga. and Miriam Garrett and her husband, Douglas, of Macon, Ga.; along with several nieces, nephews and aunts in Georgia. The family would like to extend a sincere thank you to the staff of Maine Veterans’ Home in Bangor and a special thank you to Sandra Robbins home caregiver for Bob. Friends may call 4-7 p.m. Friday, March 17, at Brookings-Smith, 133 Center St., Bangor. A memorial service will be held 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the First United Methodist Church, 703 Essex St., Bangor, with the Rev. Dr. Randall C. Chretien, pastor officiating. The family invites relatives and friends to share conversation and refreshments in the church fellowship hall following the services Saturday. Gifts in his memory may be sent to the First United Methodist Church, 703 Essex St., Bangor, ME 04401 or New Hope Hospice Inc., P.O. Box 757, Holden, ME 04429-0757. Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.BrookingsSmith.com
ROBERT ‘BOB’ COFFIN WHITE
