NEW GLOUCESTER – Robert P. Chaplin, 88, died peacefully at home on Tuesday, March 4, surrounded by his family.

Born Nov. 7, 1919, in Auburn, he was the fourth of seven sons born to Clifford Harold and Jeanette Palmer Chaplin.

“When new theories are brought to the physics class, ‘Chappy’ brings them. Besides having original ideas, he possesses a keen sense of humor which he is perfectly willing to share.” So reported the Edward Little High School yearbook of the Class of 1937, where Bob was an athlete, excelling in football, tennis, winter sports (champion ski jumper and speed skater) and track (a champion pole-vaulter).

His civic and professional volunteerism complemented his parallel careers in music and manufacturing engineering. During an early stint with the Union Twist Drill Co. in Athol, Mass., he and his clarinet led the Bob Chaplin Orchestra, playing at fairgrounds, colleges and dance halls during the era of Big Bands and Swing, wearing their own blazer jackets and looking “swell.”

When war came, the musicians went on to serve, and Bob joined the U.S. Navy. He taught at the Great Lakes Machine Shop prior to his sea duty in the Pacific theater. Aboard the attack transport USS Sandoval, Bob was a first class motor machinist mate whose pick-up band would set up in the mess hall and play for morale on a ship that delivered marines to Iwo Jima and soldiers into Okinawa. Bob was one of five Chaplin brothers whose wartime sacrifices included the loss of their brother Dana on D-Day at St. Malo, France.

After the war, Bob continued his education at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied woodwinds and music theory. He returned to Auburn, Maine, where he taught band at Webster Junior High School and Edward Little before being called back for Korea.

After his marriage to Mary Knights and the beginning of their family, he relocated to Portland where he and his brother Harold grew the Loren C. Dyer tool and die operation from a tiny waterfront building on Commercial Street. Meanwhile, countless Saturday pupils, dragging their bassoons, clarinets and saxophones, came to the Chaplins’ home on Leonard Street for a basement lesson from Bob. He was particularly proud of one pupil who went on to perform with the Houston Philharmonic.

Simultaneously, Bob and his brother Harold (Hal) entered a new era with Bangor-based Snow & Nealley in its new industrial division in South Portland where Bob was the company’s vice president. Later, after retiring from Edwards and Walker of Portland, Bob began a business where he consulted on methodology, tool geometry standardization and design, diagnosing production problems as well as developing a metal removal technology course for General Electric divisions from Auburn to Arecibo, Puerto Rico; Saco Defense; Pratt & Whitney; Gould-Shawmut; American Hoist & Derrick; Masters Machine Company and many others.

He believed there was no better way to resolve manufacturing problems than through technical education. To this end, he wrote and published a textbook on metal removal technology and wrote articles for Manufacturing Engineering Magazine. Bob also taught a metal removal technology course for the University of Maine that granted certification through the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and served on Gov. Longley’s Committee for Vocational Education.

Bob’s love for music involved him with the First Congregational Church as choir director after he and his family moved to New Gloucester. His family remembers many outstanding chorales for that church as well as for the Methodist Church in Auburn, where the Chaplin boys worshipped when they were growing up.

Bob served as chairman of the New Gloucester Planning Board and later the town’s Growth Committee, as he was deeply committed to water quality issues. He liked to say he had the best drinking water from his own well!

Bob and Mary enjoyed summers on Little Sebago Lake with their three children and, later, grandchildren. They spent their anniversary often at Attean or Moosehead Lake where they liked to fish.

Survivors include his wife Mary of New Gloucester; son John and his wife, Louise Chaplin, also of New Gloucester; daughter Martha and her husband, Michael Frink, of Newcastle; daughter Nancy and her husband, Dennis Connolly, of Gorham; grandchildren, Leah Stetson, Tad Stetson, Glenn Connolly, Robert Connolly, Owen Chaplin, Margaret Chaplin and Julian Frink. Bob, a 32nd degree Mason, will be greatly missed by his nephews and nieces, neighbors and a special community that included many friends and musicians with whom many happy memories were made.

He was predeceased by his parents, and all his brothers: Harold, Clifford H. Chaplin Jr., Everett, Russell, Dana and Charles.