OBITUARYS OF OUR COMPATRIOTS

    ROBERT FRISBIE (BOB) PHELAN

Subject: a sad note

Date: Sun, 01 Aug 1999 11:05:24 -0400

To: Robert Lewis

Dear Robert,

   Sorry I haven't written sooner. My Dad (Bob Phelan) Passed away in June and I wanted to let you know. I know you had been in touch with each other and exchanged info about WWII and the 594th. In the last few years He had spent quite a lot of time reseaching Cape Cod's Role in the war effort.

   I know he enjoyed meeting you at the reunion in Colorado last September. He was determined to get there, even though he was suffering with advancing bone cancer.  I have included a copy of his obit. If you would like to post any or all of it to your web site, please feel free to do so.                            Photo on left is Bob in Japan, 1945

                         Robert Frisbie Phelan, World War II Veteran of the 594th Engineer Boat & Shore Regiment June 21, 1999 - Age 75 - Died in Falmouth  after a brief illness.

Bob was born in Waterbury Connecticut. Upon graduating from Crosby High School he enlisted into the US Army. During WWII. He received his training for the Amphibian Corps at Camp Edwards and Washburn Island on Cape Cod, and Camp Gordon Johnston in Florida before serving in the Pacific Campaigns in New Guinea, New Britain, The Philippine Linguyen Gulf Invasion and Japan. He served as a crane operator in company D of the 594th.

Upon returning home he continued his education receiving his BA from the University of Connecticut, and his MS and Ph.D. from Purdue University.

Bob joined Prudential Insurance Company in 1954 in the agencies Research Division in Newark, NJ. He worked for 7 years in the Boston office as Director of Marketing from 1967-1974. He returned to the Home Office in Newark where he worked as Vice President - Research until he retired in 1983.

Throughout his life Bob was very active in the Episcopal Church. He was former Vestryman and Treasurer for the Church of the Redeemer in Morristown, NJ, Chairman of Quotas and Assessments under Bishop Stark in the Newark Diocese, Vestryman and Treasurer of St. Peters Church in Weston, MA, and a member of St. Barnabas Church in Falmouth, MA.

Among the civic activities he was involved in included: Chairman of Morristownship, NJ Cub Pack and Boy Scouts, Coach of the Church of Redeemer’s Youth Group Diocese Basketball League and an Elected Member of the Board of Education in Morristownship, NJ.

He was a member of the American Psychological Association, the International Assoc. of Applied Psychology, American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science and the Society of Sigma Xi.

Since his retirement Bob has done extensive research and contributed historical papers to the following: Sewanee University of the South, Alabama; School for the Deaf, Hartford, CT; Taft School, Watertown, CT; Camp Edwards and Washburn Island Archives; Cape Cod Community College; Mattetuck Museum and  Waterbury Library; Woods Hole and Falmouth Historical Societies; Frisbie-Frisbee Family Association.

Bob is survived by his wife Nancy of Falmouth, Massachusetts, his son Robert (Chip) Phelan of Charlestown, Rhode Island, a daughter Bette Phelan of Waikoloa, Hawaii and three sisters, Edith Spears of Meadville, PA, Helen Greer of Colorado Springs, CO, and Jean Lambert of Albuquerque, NM.

  If I come across anything enlightening in his research I will send it to you.

             Sincerely, Chip Phelan