Cheer and good humor were always his priceless assets Bob brought with him when his wartime class joined the Army on 19 January 1943. Following his father into the Corps of Engineers, he spent a short student tour at the Engineer School and a platoon leader tour in the Engineer Replacement Training Center. He then proceeded to the Ledo Road in India, Burma where he “pushed mud.” After airfield construction for the Fourteenth and Tenth Air Forces in western China, he joined the Marshall Mission in Peiping as Secretary of the General Staff and Control and Operation Officer. He worked with both Communist and Nationalist forces and formed a lifelong respect and affection for China and its people.

Returning to the States in 1947, he earned a master of science degree in civil engineering at the Massachuseetts Institute of Technology and subsequently attended the Advanced Course at Fort Belvoir. Assigned to the New England Division in 1949, he began a busy career in the design and supervision of complex construction projects.

During a special July 4th weekend on Cape Cod in 1951, Bob married Katherine Nolan, who was flying with Eastern Air Lines. He assumed command of the 317th Engineer Combat Battalion at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and took them to Germany, where he spent two and one-half years helping to rebuild the Seventh Army.

Upon completion of the Command and General Staff College, he was assigned to the General Staff in Washington with four fruitful and challenging years in Mobilization and Planning. During this period, Bob and Kay had three children in rapid order: Ann, in 1954 in Germany; and Mary Jane in 1955 and Patty in 1956, both in the Washington, DC, area.

In 1959 he went to Greenland as Area Engineer at Sondrestrom, where he supervised construction on the DEWLINE and airport projects. As usual, duty was punctuated by close personal relationships with contractors — in this case, U.S. and Danish. A manager for a U.S. contractor wrote him at the end of this hardship tour, “We thank you as your contractor and also as a taxpayer.” During Greenland’s winter, he was sent to Omaha to troubleshoot the construction of high-priority missile bases. Three months later, he returned to Greenland leaving the Omaha projects on schedule.

He reported to the Army Nuclear Power Program at Fort Belvoir in 1960, as Chief of the Field Office and in 1962 became Director of the Joint Services-Atomic Energy Commission’s reactor efforts in Greenland, Alaska, Antarctica, and other remote spots. An avid golfer, he claimed to be the only person who had driven off the Greenland Ice Cap and chipped up to the South Pole.

In 1966, after a satisfying year at the National War College, he took command of the 555th Engineer Combat Group in Germany. Bob also enjoyed his role as community leader and long-term friendships established with the German, French, and Canadian forces near Karlsruhe.

He went to Vietnam in 1968 as Deputy Director of the Engineer Construction Agency and served as Deputy Chief of Military Engineering in the Office of the Chief of Engineers upon his return to Washington. In 1971, he retired from the Army while with the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group. The award of a third Oak Leaf Cluster to Bob’s Legion of Merit added to his U.S. and foreign decorations attested to a distinguished military career.

Two years with a rapid transit construction project for the Port Authority of Allegheny County brought the family to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, once home to Kay’s parents, and a period of strengthening those family relationships and watching his girls moving toward young womanhood.

In 1973, he joined the consulting firm of Parsons, Brinkerhoff, Quade and Douglas and became Regional Administrator and Project Manager for rapid transit, port, and highway projects in Boston. This relocation gave him a chance to enjoy Cape Cod, which he had known all his life. Earlier he and Kay had bought a house there on the hill he had always loved. Sitting on his terrace overlooking Pleasant Bay, Bob smoked his after-dinner cigar, dreamed his dreams, contemplated the affairs of the world, enjoyed his family and friends — and planned tomorrow’s fishing trip. He named his boat “Rapid Transit” and the dinghy “Kiss and Ride,” and many of his happiest days were spent fishing the waters of Chatham.

His last career challenge was on the Northeast Corridor Rail Improvement Program with Ralph M. Parsons Company as a Senior Project Manager, working much of the time as Manager of Special Projects. He earned the Golden Spike Award for outstanding service.

Bob always had a love for flowers and plants. At school at Fort Leavenworth the Burlins’ neighbors were surprised when the spring bulbs he had “stuck in” during the fall blossomed forth. During his “semi-retirement” he developed an interest in rhododendrons, worked with friends developing new plants and collected others to be planted at the Cape.

He was determined to go back to work on a favorite special project but took a summer off for Chatham with Kay, his daughters and their families. Shortly after this unforgettable summer, he had some minor symptoms of illness and in the fall of 1989 was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He fought a valiant battle for more than a year, moving to Florida near friends and classmates and continuing life as always. He slipped quietly away on 16 March 1991.

Bob often referred to Arlington as his “permanent address.” With full military honors and classmates, friends, and family attending, he was laid to rest there near his infant daughter, father, mother, and brother.

Each new spring, Bob’s rhododendrons at his house on the hill in Chatham continue to bloom in memory of this modest, talented, loving philosopher.

— HWF & the family