RUMFORD – Robert L. Belanger, 81, of 25 Oxford Ave., Rumford, died Friday, April 30, at home after a two-year battle with cancer.

He was born May 17, 1922, in Rumford, and was the son of Edward and Georgiana Gagne Belanger. A resident of this community all of his life, he graduated from Stephens High School in 1942.

He was a communicant of St. Athanasius St. John Church.

He served in World War II in the Battle of the Bulge, and was a lifetime member of the American Legion Napoleon Quellette Post 24 and the VFW Robert Shand Post 1641.

After his service, he went to barber school and took over his father’s barber shop, which he ran for many years. He retired from Boise Cascade Paper Company.

He loved his family and enjoyed horse racing, hunting, fishing, playing cards, stamp collecting, and reading (having read an entire set of encyclopedias.)

On Feb. 5, 1951, he married Theresa M. Taylor Belanger who predeceased him on Friday, Nov. 27, 1998.

Surviving are two sons and a daughter-in-law, Thomas of Portland, and Richard and Pam of Saco; a daughter, Susan of Rumford; a grandson, Benjamin Belanger; a granddaughter, Elizabeth Belanger; a brother, Roland and his wife Jean of Rumford; and a sister-in-law, Wilma of Mexico.

He was predeceased by his parents; a brother, Norman Belanger; and a brother, Edward Belanger who died at birth in 1921.