In loving memory of Robert Jonathan Stansfield

Obituary

We sadly announce the death of Robert Jonathan Stansfield on June 22, 2023. He died peacefully at the age of 79, in his home in Bradenton, Florida with his family by his side.

We will remember Jon for his humor, his talents, and his kindness. As all who met him know, he loved nothing more than a good, long joke shared with friends and family. In receiving condolences, his family has noticed his friends using the exact same words to describe him: “gentle, kind, and a true gentleman.” We suspect he put them up to this.

Born on October 26, 1943 to Robert Earl Stansfield and Estrid Anna Mattson, Jon grew up in Berlin, Connecticut, attended Trinity college, later earning a master’s degree in Education from Springfield College. He served as LTJG in the Navy on the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt during which time he met and married Jane Ellen Astle. They moved to Clinton, and later Woodbury, Connecticut raising two sons, Robert Brent and Andrew McAllister. In 1996, he married his second wife Judith Lynn Vonasek whose son, Matthew Ellis, became a welcomed and loved part of his family. They made a home in Southbury, Connecticut, then Raleigh, North Carolina, then Bradenton, Florida.

Jon served in the Human Resources field at Yale New Haven Hospital and at Boehringer lngelheim International. His work allowed him to travel around the US and Europe, and to work with wonderful people, many of whom count themselves among his closest friends.

He was humble. He rarely touted his accomplishments, though they were varied and impressive. He was a talented musician, playing The Amazing Feat on the rhythm guitar with The Cavaliers in the 1960s. He was a skilled baseball player, playing second base and shortstop for Berlin High School (his 1958 team was inducted into the Berlin High School Athletic Hall of Fame) and for Trinity College where he was once scouted by the New York Yankees. He valued public speaking and could be counted on to give a stirring, well-practiced toast.

Jon always took the time to realize his dreams, both large and small. On Fathers Day in the 1980s, he convinced his family to hit him in the face with pies like he’d seen on TV. He liked to tie his own flies to take, along with his travel rod, to fly fish on work trips everywhere from West Virginia to Colorado. He hiked large sections of the Appalachian Trail where he and his hiking friends became known as “The Old Men Who Get Lost.” His family, while recently reviewing his old VHS tapes, were surprised to see him practicing scenes from “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ for an acting class we didn’t know he had taken. He traveled extensively. He never stopped playing guitar.

He is survived by his wife, Judy Stansfield, his sons, R. Brent Stansfield (married to Stephanie Preston), Andrew M. Stansfield, and Matthew Ellis (married to Melanie Ellis), and six adoring grandchildren: Anna Stansfield, Sarah Stansfield, Madelyn Stansfield, Cole Ellis, Evelyn Stansfield, and Mac Stansfield.

In keeping with Jon’s wishes, there will be no memorial service. In lieu of flowers, the family asks those who wish to honor Jon to make a donation to Trout Unlimited. http://www.tu.org/ and then to attempt to do a better Donald Duck impression than his but admit that you can’t because it’s really hard.