Robert Wilmot

Robert S. Wilmot

1919 - 2013 WEST STOCKBRIDGE Robert S. Wilmot, 93, of 101 West Center Road, died July 24, 2013, at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield.

Bob was the beloved husband of 65 years of his wife, Alice, and the treasured father of Sandra, Richard, and J. Thomas. Until recently he had resided at Kimball Farms in Lenox, as part of their Life Enrichment Program where he dealt bravely and graciously with the frustration of the dementia that gradually overtook him.

Born Oct. 3, 1919, in Providence, R.I., he was the son of Sydney and Alice Barr Wilmot, and grew up with his brother, David, in suburban New York City, attending Bronxville and Yonkers schools. He liked to recount how at age 12, he and his father got the unusual opportunity to climb to the top the George Washington Bridge's eastern tower, then under construction.

He loved cars his whole life, learned to drive at 12, and saved enough money as a teenager to buy a much-adorned Model A. In college, he lived on tuna fish so his Ford might have gas, and for the remainder of his life, he never willingly chose to eat a tuna fish sandwich.

Bob graduated from Brown University, class of '41, with a degree in Civil Engineering, and was studying for his master's degree at Yale when World War II intervened. He spent the next three years with the Army in the Pacific theater, working his way through India, Burma, and China, and sending supportive letters home to his parents about his brother, then a prisoner of war in a German concentration camp.

After demobilization, he went to work for the N.Y. Telephone Company in Albany, N.Y., as a building engineer.

In October, 1947, he married Alice Louise Irons, of Providence, R.I., and shortly thereafter, they bought their first home in Delmar, N.Y. It was there they had their three children.

Bob and Alice were very active in the Delmar Methodist Church, and Bob traveled all over upstate N.Y. supervising the construction and upgrading of telephone company buildings.

In 1958, with a promotion and relocation to New York City, the family moved to Scarsdale, N.Y., where they resided until his retirement from the phone company in 1978. Here, Bob served Hitchcock Presbyterian Church as Deacon, Elder, and Chair of the Building & Grounds Committee for many years. He also devoted much time to the Jennie Clarkson Home for Girls in Valhalla, N.Y., serving on its Board and later as its President and, in his spare time, fixing up bicycles for the girls to use.

In 1967, the family bought an old dairy farm in West Stockbridge, and when Bob retired in 1978, they were able to move permanently to the place he loved best.

He was active in many Berkshire civic and charitable groups. He and Alice were founding members of the West Stockbridge Rescue Squad and for 12 years Bob organized its continuing education programs. He was instrumental in assigning house numbers to all town residences so EMTs could get to emergencies more quickly. He volunteered for Elder Services, worked in the Great Barrington Food Pantry, drove for cancer patients, and pretty much was willing to help anyone who needed it.

In his retirement, he devoted much of his time, energy, and talents to the First Congregational Church of Stockbridge, where he served on many committees and took a leading role in the maintenance and upkeep of the church buildings.

Bob was gentle spirit, helpful to a fault, a kind, sweet-natured person with a ready, wry sense of humor. He loved dried apricots, jelly doughnuts, and tapioca pudding. And he was never happier than when he was driving his tractor, running his model trains, or welcoming family and friends to his home.

He leaves his wife, Alice of West Stockbridge; his daughter Sandy of New York City; his son, Dick, and wife, JoAnn of Clifton Park, N.Y.; his son, Tom, and wife Diana Lyman of Lincoln, Mass.; and grandsons, Jeremy Wilmot and wife, Crystal; Peter Wilmot, and Michael Conti and wife, Corinne, and many nephews and nieces and devoted friends.

He was predeceased by his parents, and by his brother, David, and sister-in-law, Francelia Wilmot of Cambridge, N.Y.

FUNERAL NOTICE: A memorial service will be held Saturday, Aug. 31, 2013, at the First Congregational Church in Stockbridge at a time to be announced. Burial will be private.

Donations in Bob's memory may be made to the First Congregational Church in Stockbridge, HospiceCare in the Berkshires, or the Alzheimer's Foundation through FINNERTY & STEVENS FUNERAL HOME, 426 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA 01230, who is caring for the arrangements.

Remembrances may be sent to the family through www.finnertyandstevens.com