WAYNE – Robert M. Phillips, of Winter Haven, Fla. and Wayne, died peacefully at home in Wayne after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease with his family at his bedside. Bob was 78 years old.

Bob was born on Aug. 31, 1945, in Blue Hill, the son of Harold Maurice Phillips and Hildred (Williams) Phillips. He grew up in that small town, never venturing too far unless it was a trip to Selden (near Danforth) to visit family. It was there that he learned to fish for brook trout with his Uncle Alton and cousins Bobby and Roger. There were lots of chances to fish at home, too, over the years, especially along Mill Brook by his home, winding its way from the back side of Blue Hill Mountain on into the Blue Hill Bay.

Those growing-up years were also marked by participation in most school athletics, Boy Scouts, a newspaper route, tending lawns and gardens around town, music lessons, a couple summers working at the Weekly Packet newspaper, spending too much money every year at the Blue Hill Fair, and riding his bike all over the place in a time before helmets and paved bike lanes.

Bob graduated from George Stevens Academy in 1963 and moved on to study engineering at the University of Maine Orono, graduating in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.

He began three years of active military service in 1968 at the Naval Officer Candidate School in Newport, R.I., receiving his commission as an “officer and a gentleman” in March 1969. After an additional three months of training in San Diego, Calif., he served aboard the USS Earnest G. Small, DD 838 as Main Propulsion Assistant, until its decommissioning in late 1970. Home port was Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and his time aboard ship included a six-month deployment to the western pacific with an aircraft carrier group during the Vietnam War.

His final year of active naval duty was as Materiel Officer for Destroyer Squadron 322 in Norfolk, Va. as they prepared for a six-month Mediterranean deployment. Upon completion of his active military service in December 1971, Bob returned to Maine, obtained his professional engineer license, and began his 45-year career at the Maine Department of Transportation, where he had been employed summers while in college.

He worked out of the Ellsworth Division Office for several years on survey crews and highway construction projects. Bob was transferred in 1974 to the Maine DOT Bureau of Planning in Augusta, and now faced adapting to an office environment. Bob moved on to Maine DOT’s Bureau of Project Development in 1977. There he took on scheduling development of highway and bridge improvement projects, management of Federal transportation funds, and administration of various municipal and public aspects of project development. During the next two and a half decades he was an active participant in the Bureau’s automation and its transformation from top-down executive control of project development, into a team oriented, program management organization that held multi-disciplinary project teams responsible for project delivery.

The pencil, paper files and typewriters of 1977 were slowly replaced by personal computers at every workstation. Program and project finances were now managed by state-of-the-art automated systems. Bob witnessed and participated in Maine DOT’s evolution from the survey-design-dig-pave “Interstate Era” into a more environmentally responsive, customer conscious, user friendly public entity.

Bob retired from Maine DOT in December 2013 and in retirement enjoyed space and freedom on his old farm in Wayne. His life turned a corner in 1982 with his marriage to the love of his life, Cynthia (Burrill). A daughter, Baylee Jeanne was born in 1988 and a son, Richard Maurice joined them in 1991. Baylee and Rick each grew strong here, found love and were married following college. When Cyndi retired in 2017, more time was spent at their home in Florida during cold months.

Bob’s happiest days were spent with his family, but the open space, endless challenges, and solitude he found on the farm kept him grounded and eternally grateful for his good fortune here on earth; especially all those times of peace he found “In The Garden”.

Bob is survived by his wife, Cynthia of Wayne, who crossed his path all those many years ago and proved that faith, hope and love endure… the greatest of these being love; their children Baylee Jeanne Bachelder and her husband Bradford Bachelder of Wayne and Richard Maurice Phillips and his wife Sara (Webber) Phillips of Surry; grandchildren Eleanor Cynthia Bachelder and Robet Bradford Bachelder of Wayne and Maverick Maurice Phillips of Surry; his son, Daniel Robert Phillips and his wife Wanita of Benton; his sister, Nancy (Phillips) Stubbs and her husband William Stubbs of Bucksport; two nephews, Mark Stubbs and his wife Tricia of Auburn and Robert Stubbs and his wife Melissa of Bucksport; and a number of cousins.

Beacon Hospice poem… “The Man In The Glass” Three words that sum up the life… “Sought to please”.

Messages of condolence may be sent to: http://www.finleyfuneralhome.com

A celebration of life gathering will be held at 9 a.m., Friday, May 17, at the farm. Private family interment at Evergreen Cemetery, Wayne. Bragdon Finley Funeral Home, 707 Main St., Monmouth.

Contributions may be made to

Maine Cancer Foundation,

170 US Route 1, Suite 250

Falmouth, ME 04105 or

Beacon Hospice,

5 Community Dr., Suite A,

Augusta, ME 04330

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