MONROE – Robert P. Burleson, 87, passed away Saturday, Oct. 27, 2007, at Tall Pines. Belfast. He was born May 23, 1920, in Boston, to Paul C. and Hattie M. (Cassidy) Burleson. He grew up in East Berkshire, Vt., and said his happiest memories were of staying with his Grampa and Gramma Burleson at their Maplehurst Holstein farm in Bakersfield, Vt. At age 11, his family moved to Maine, where his father managed various A&P stores from Eastport to Belfast. He started working for his father at the Belfast A&P when he was 16, shortly after moving to town. At 18, he was accidentally shot while hunting rabbits with friends and was saved from the resulting blood poisoning he got while at the old WCGH by an observant nurse, Agnes Knowlton, R.N., who told his parents. They promptly had him sent to Boston’s Mass General, where he was for the next four months. It was also how he met mom, Beverly Knowlton, whom he married, March 27, 1942. He worked as a class A welder during World War II at Providence, R.I., then Portland shipyards. After the war, he became manager of the Farmington A&P for a few years, then moved back to Belfast in 1953, where he worked as a salesman for Byron Smith Co., and Siltex Co., for a number of years, until he and Mom opened the B&B Market, Belfast, in 1964. They ran the store until 1975. After retiring in 1975, they both worked summers for Senior Spectrum and went south winters to tour the Gulf Coast of Mexico down to Veracruz, Mexico, and stayed in El Baratel, Mexico, for two winters before buying a home in Brownsville, Texas, where they stayed winters until 1997. In 1994 they sold their home on the shore at the Battery, Belfast, and moved to Belmont, then to Monroe before mom passed away, March 2003. Dad was a great storyteller about the old days and characters in Belfast till his last days and is loved and missed dearly. He is survived by daughters, Judy and husband, Emery Nickerson, of Swanville, Adrienne Burleson of Swanville and Laurie and husband, Joel Cox, of Searsmont; sons, Daniel and Bryden Burleson of Monroe; eight grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and numerous cousins. He was predeceased by his wife, Beverly, his parents, a baby boy and a cousin. Graveside services will be held 1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1, at Berkshire Center Cemetery, Berkshire Center, Vt. Those who wish may make donations in Robert’s memory to Townline Animal Shelter, 46 Baker Road, Belfast, ME 04915. Arrangements are under the care of Crabiel-Riposta Funeral Home, 182 Waldo Ave., Belfast.
ROBERT P. BURLESON
