Obituary
Robert A. West III, 82, of Port Orange, FL, formerly of Avon, CT passed away on Thursday, November 24, 2016.
Robert was born in Wilkes-Barre, PA on August 16, 1934, the son of Robert A. West Jr. and Helen E. West. Robert attended Meyers High School in Wilkes-Barre, graduating in 1952. He was a 1956 graduate of Harvard University majoring in History and he played tuba in the Harvard University Band. He worked at the Prudential Insurance Company in Newark, NJ before being drafted by the army in February 1957. He was stationed at Fort Dix, NJ and was a courier to Europe and North Africa. He returned to the Prudential in Boston in 1959. Robert began his career at Connecticut General Life Insurance in Bloomfield, CT in 1960. He started as a Reinsurance Underwriter and rose through the company’s Bloomfield and Dallas, TX offices in his 32 years with CIGNA. His last position was as President of the Individual Financial Services Division after which he retired in 1992.
Robert was very involved with the Episcopal Church in CT and FL. He served on numerous vestries as a member and Senior Warden. He was a director of the Church Home of Hartford and its Seabury Retirement Community. Robert volunteered as a math tutor at Horizon Elementary School in Port Orange, FL. In 2008 he was named School Volunteer of the Year of Volusia County Florida.
His devoted wife, Barbara E. West of Port Orange, FL, survives Robert. He leaves his children with his first wife, the Reverend Barbara F. West, Susan West Brockman of Farmington, CT and Christopher West of Winsted, CT. He leaves two grandsons, James Jr. and Matthew Robert Brockman. His son-in-law, James Brockman, predeceases him. His stepsons, Keith, and Scott Kosky and Scott’s wife Melanie, his step grandsons, Jared and Alexander, and several step grandchildren also survive him.
Baldwin Brothers of Port Orange, FL is in charge of arrangements. A memorial service was held at Grace Episcopal Church on Tuesday December 6. A private burial service will be held in CT in the spring. Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice-Volusia Flagler, 3800 Woodbriar Trail, Port Orange, FL 32129.
Life is but a stopping place,
A pause in what's to be,
A resting place along the road,
to sweet eternity.
We all have different journeys,
Different paths along the way,
We all were meant to learn some things,
but never meant to stay...
Our destination is a place,
Far greater than we know.
For some the journey's quicker,
For some the journey's slow.
And when the journey finally ends,
We'll claim a great reward,
And find an everlasting peace,
Together with the Lord.
Nancy & H. Bruce Downey, Harvard '56, now in Myrtle Beach, SC