Brattan, Robert Franklin, III of Hingham, formerly of Weymouth, January 4, 2009, at the age of 94 passed quietly surrounded by his family. Beloved husband of Virginia (Dettore) Brattan. Loving father of Bonnie and her husband Michael Gibbons of Braintree, Jody and her husband Milton Camille of Dummer, NH, Judy, and the late James Marshall of Waterville, ME, Robert and his wife Nancy of Rye, NH, and Nicholas of Manchester, NH. Cherished grandfather of 12 grandchildren.
Franklin was orphaned at the age of four and was raised by his grandmother. He later attended and graduated from the Haverford School for Boys in 1933 and Haverford College in 1937, where he formed a close and long lasting relationship with the A. W. Palmer family.
In 1941 Franklin enlisted in the U.S. Army where he graduated from Officer Candidate School and served in the Army Corps of Engineers in Burma and in Alaska where he helped build the initial break-through section of the Alaskan Highway along the southern border of the Yukon Territory. He was discharged as a captain in 1946.
Upon his return to the States, Franklin became a partner in Camp Allagash, a private boys camp on Moosehead Lake in Maine, where Franklin, now a Registered Maine Guide, had spent formative summers of his boyhood and later worked as a camp counselor. During this time he met Virginia at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Bryn Mawr, PA where she was the nurse who administered a routine test to him. The following day Franklin sent Virginia a dozen roses. They were married three months later after a whirlwind romance, a romance that continued through their 59 years of marriage. After their wedding, they returned to Camp Allagash where they continued to run the camp. Franklin also taught school in Greenville, at the southern tip of Moosehead Lake. Franklin and Virginia eventually settled in Wollaston and Weymouth and raised their five children. Here Franklin worked as a construction engineer for Stone and Webster and Barnes Engineering. He ended his engineering career at the age of 75 for the Massachusetts Department of Public Works for which he worked for 29 years.
In 2004 Franklin and Virginia moved to Linden Ponds Retirement Community in Hingham, and became members of a caring community of new friends.
A mass and reception will be held at the Derby Club House at Linden Ponds on Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 11:00 A.M.
In lieu of flower, contributions can be made to Food for the Poor, Inc., 6401 Lyons Road, Coconut Creek, FL. 33073.
For directions to Linden Ponds visit www.ericksoncommunities.com.