Wallace Robbins

Wallace Clifton Robbins, 89, of Brewer, Maine passed away at Eastern Maine Medical Center on July 21, 2016 from complications of a fall and head injury. Wally was born on April 14, 1927 at the General Hospital in Waterville, Maine and raised on the Robbins’ family farm in East Vassalboro, Maine. He attended the East Vassalboro Elementary School, then attended high school at Colburn Classical Institute in Waterville, Maine and graduated from Higgins Classical Institute in Charleston, Maine in June 1945. He attended Colby College for one year before he enlisted in the Army Air Corp in 1946. He was discharged from the Air Force in 1949. During his military career he was a cryptographic technician working with coded signals and regularly used an “Enigma Cipher Machine”. Wally then attended the University of Maine at Orono (UMO), graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry in 1954. He earned a Master of Science degree in Forestry from the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, N.B. in May 1956.
Wally was a professional forester and a licensed surveyor for Eastern Fine Paper Company in Brewer Maine for eleven years (1954 – 1965). He began teaching forestry management as an adjunct instructor (on leave from Eastern Fine Paper) at the Forestry summer camps in Princeton, Maine in 1962. He became a full time instructor at UMO in 1965 and retired as a professor of Forest Management and director of the Forest Technicians Division, an associate degree program. In 1969 he co-authored (with Donald A. Wilson) a technical manual entitled Formulas and Tables for Point-Sampling in Forest Inventory, Part 1 for English Units and Part 2 for Metric Units. An early application of computer power to generate 485 pages of data tables, the manuals were well-received in the forest industry. He retired in 1989.
While attending UNB in Fredericton, Wally met and fell I love with Beverly Lillian Daggett of Campobello Island, New Brunswick. They were married May 12, 1956. Wally built a house in Brewer almost single-handed and the family moved into the home in 1959, the same home he lived in until his passing.
Wally was predeceased by his parents Maurice and Malvena (Masse) Robbins; his wife of 58 years, Beverly L. (Daggett) Robbins; two brothers Louis I. Robbins and Gerald L. Robbins and one nephew Michael Robbins, sister-in-law Rosamond (Daggett) Mitchell, and brother-in-law Sheldon Mitchell. He is survived by a sister Marjorie (Robbins) LaLime of Damariscotta, Maine; a daughter, Janet Sue Robbins of Brewer, Maine; a son, Donald H.W. Robbins and wife Lisa Jo Carver Robbins of East Vassalboro, Maine and one granddaughter Danielle Desiree Robbins of Augusta, Maine (the apple of his eye). He is also survived by one sister-in-law, Maxine (Gray) Robbins of East Vassalboro, Maine and 15 nieces and nephews
Outside his dedicated career to teach forest management skills to the next generations of foresters, Wally was also involved in many student, professional and civic organizations. Highlights include being a dorm RA and intramural handball champion, organizing students to open the first Society of American Foresters (SAF) chapter in Maine and organizing a forestry-oriented fraternity. Wally remained a lifetime member of the SAF. Locally, he was a member of Columbia Street Baptist Church, in Bangor, Maine for 50 years, serving as a deacon for more than half that time. He was a 25-year and founding member of the Brewer Housing Authority, volunteered on the Brewer-2000 economic development and served as a ballot observer for several elections. In retirement Wally was a volunteer/instructor at the Forestry and Logging Museum in Bradley, Maine for several years and delegate to several Republican State Conventions.
Relatives and friends are welcome to call 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 27, 2016 at Brookings-Smith, 133 Center Street, Bangor where a funeral service will be held 2 p.m. Thursday July 28, 2016 with the Rev. Dr. Stan Moody, pastor, Columbia Street Baptist Church, officiating. The family invites relatives and friends to share conversation and refreshments at the Family Reception Center of Brooking-Smith, 163 Center Street immediately following the service on Thursday. Interment will be held 1 p.m. Saturday, July 30, 2016, at the Chadwick Hill Cemetery, Route 32, South China (across from Erskine Academy). Those who wish to remember Wallace in a special way may make gifts in his memory to the “Deacon’s Fund”, Columbia Street Baptist Church, 63 Columbia Street, Bangor, ME, 04401. Condolences to the family may be expressed at www.BrookingsSmith.com.