Robert W. Holden

1955 - 2025

Robert W. Holden

Ashfield, MA - Robert W. Holden died on April 24, 2025, at his home in Ashfield, Mass. He was 69.

It would have been to his taste to start this obituary thus: Robert's dead. If you knew him, you can make up your own obit. If you didn't know him, it's pointless.

Born Sept. 15, 1955, in Burlington, Vt., he had sense enough to leave and grew up in rural southeastern Vermont and graduated from Marlboro College, where he majored in psychology, then worked at the college in admissions.

He also worked in restaurants, did dry stone work, landscape detailing, direct care work at both the Brattleboro Retreat and on the Navajo Reservation in Flagstaff, Ariz.

He volunteered for the Newbrook Fire & Rescue and worked as a paramedic. After the Sept. 11 attacks, he returned to work as an emergency medical technician. He retired as director of special projects for Rescue Inc. in Brattleboro in 2017.

In 2018, he relocated to Shaker Heights, Ohio, with his partner, Jane Kaufman, who at the time lived in Northampton. While there, he provided compassionate care to both Joan (Skall) Kaufman, Jane's mother, and to World War II veteran James Frolking.

He enjoyed dancing, early music and Celtic music, making and playing penny whistles, doing stonework, cutting, stacking and splitting wood, organizing chaos, and taking up little space in the world.

He could walk through an autumn forest without making a sound, scale hills and appreciated the views of northern New England and the Southwest particularly.

With hand tools, he designed and built a cabin of 120 square feet, living off the grid for several years in Newfane. It helped that he could shower at work.

Robert was moved by the response of many people in Ashfield, who came to his aid around his diagnosis of lung cancer.

In his own words, Robert could be gruff, curt and didn't suffer fools gladly. He cared deeply about the natural world, a place he found solace and comfort. He spoke deliberately and with authority and studied subjects deeply. He said that 90% of what people care about didn't matter.

Among his prized possessions was his book collection. He loved the work of J.R.R. Tolkien particularly, and often said he would like a first edition of "The Lord of the Rings."

"If I knew I was going to die, I would have lived a more interesting life," he said.

Committal of ashes will take place at 2 p.m. on May 2 at St. John's Episcopal Church Memorial Garden at 469 Main St. in Ashfield, Mass.

Donations in his memory may be made to Hospice of the Fisher Home in Amherst, Mass.