DR. ROBERT CHARLES BATCHELDER

BATCHELDER, DR. ROBERT C. “BOB” Dr. Robert “Bob” Charles Batchelder, 88, passed away Sunday, December 14, 2014 at Hebrew Health Care in West Hartford, CT after a prolonged illness. Bob was born June 14, 1926, in Alhambra, CA, the son of Charles and Hazel Batchelder. He served in the US Navy from 1944-46, graduated of Pomona College in Claremont, CA (1948), and received an MDiv (1951) and PhD (1960) from Yale Divinity School in New Haven, CT. Bob was ordained in 1956, and served as pastor at the Federated Church of Middlefield, CT until 1958. His varied career included working for the Detroit Industrial Mission in Detroit, MI, teaching Ethics at the Hartford Seminary in Hartford, CT, founding and providing consulting services through Urban Ethics in Hartford, CT, and serving as Ethics Officer/Facilitator for Lockheed Aircraft in CA. His book, The Irreversible Decision: 1939-1950 was published in 1962. Bob’s “retirement” found him traveling the world with wife Betty, serving as a “circuit preacher” in small churches near his home in Marlow, NH, and being elected as a New Hampshire State Representative. Bob is predeceased by Betty, his beloved wife of 52 years, with whom he raised three children while sharing a lifelong dedication to social justice and a love of travel. He is survived by his brother, Richard, and his three children: son David Batchelder and wife Carmen of Vernon, CT, daughter Peg Batchelder and spouse May Coryell of Cheshire, CT, and son Stephen Batchelder and wife Beth of Norfolk, VA, as well as five granddaughters (Becky, Carrie, Kaila, and Stacey Batchelder and Michelle Robinson) and one great-granddaughter, Andrea Robinson. The entire family deeply mourns his loss. Memorial donations in Bob’s name may be made to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America.