Robert “Bob” Hall Wood Sr.

October 31, 1921 – October 22, 2017

With deep sadness we announce the passing of Bob Wood of Burlington, Vermont, at the age of 95, a few weeks after suffering a debilitating stroke. He faced his last days as he did much of his life - with remarkable determination, grace, and selflessness.

Predeceased in 2009 by his wife and love of his life, Alison (Carr), Bob Wood leaves his four children, Peter Wood (Brita), Robert Wood (Deany), Cathy Wood Brooks (Douglas) and Sarah Wood (Rob Fisher); his grandchildren Elizabeth (Beth) Wood Amir (Yariv), Lindsay Wood Smith (Sam), William (Billy) Wood (Amanda Verigin) and Zoe Fisher; great granddaughters Morgan Amir, Alison Amir, Lucinda Smith, Rosalie Smith and Ayla Wood; and many close friends in Oswego, New York and across Canada and the United States.

Born on October 31, 1921 in Ossining, New York to William George Wood and Florence Gethen Kamp, Bob excelled in elementary and high school in Ossining. Attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at the outbreak of World War II, Bob obtained his engineering degree through an accelerated program that allowed students to join the US military as soon as possible. Bob served as a Lieutenant in a training capacity in the US Army Corps of Engineers stateside and was assigned to the Pacific Theatre shortly before the war ended.

Bob and Alison’s relationship began as a friendship in elementary school. After Bob proposed to Alison in a canoe (to avoid giving her an easy exit), they married on February 7, 1948. Their love, dedication, and happiness endured over 61 years of marriage.

Bob spent virtually all of his engineering career working for Alcan Aluminum, beginning at Arvida, Quebec (where his first three children were born), and moving to Montreal, Toronto, and eventually to Oswego. At Alcan, Bob held several civil engineering positions related to hydroelectric power and aluminum smelting plant construction. He later took on sales and human resources positions.

Following his father’s passion for the outdoors, Bob enjoyed hiking, canoeing, camping, trout fishing, and hunting waterfowl, upland game birds, and whitetail deer. He introduced his children to his outdoor pursuits, taking them on backcountry adventures in Ontario and upstate New York. Bob and his children and grandchildren shared much happiness at the Kamp-Wood family cabin below Giant Ledge in the Catskill Mountains near Oliverea, New York. Family memories include hiking, fishing, reading on the cabin porch, and devouring the buckwheat pancakes he made on an old wood stove at the Camp.

A lifelong conservationist, Bob supported Trout Unlimited, the Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, the Catskill Fly-fishing Center, and others. A second-generation member of Campfire Club located near Ossining NY, he earned several Campfire medals over the years during outdoor skills competitions. Until recently, he held the distinction of being the most senior active member. He was a respected and beloved figure at Campfire club gatherings into his late 80s.

Always active in his community, Bob served on the Oswego District School Board and as president of the Oswego County Board of Educational Services (BOCES), which provided a range of vocational education programs. Bob enjoyed his service as a longtime member of Rotary International and late in life actively participated in a successful effort to save and renovate the Oswego Public Library. A lifelong church goer, Bob served on the vestry of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Oswego.

In 2011, Bob faced health challenges and moved from Oswego to Burlington to be closer to his daughter Catherine, her husband Douglas, and hisgranddaughter Lindsay and her family. Bob was adored by his family and friends and we will miss him. He inspired us all to strive to live lives filled with activity, involvement, love, forgiveness, and kindness.

Bob’s family especially appreciates the wonderful care he received from Catherine and Douglas, as well as the compassionate team at Converse Home in Burlington where he lived the last 5 years, and his caring and competent health care providers: Dr. Alicia Cunningham, Dr. Jennifer Hall, Dr. Brian Kim, Dr. Ryan Cory, and Dr. Bruce Chalmer.

A memorial for family and friends will be held at Converse Home, 272 Church Street, Burlington, on Friday, October 27 at 3:00 pm.

In the spring of 2018, when the trout are biting, an Episcopal memorial service and interment will be held for family and friends at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Barrytown, New York, with a reception at the family cabin in Oliverea, New York.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Bob’s memory can be made to the Sierra Club at http://sierraclub.org/ways-to-give, or the Oswego Public Library at www.oswegopubliclibrary.org