Obituary of Robert B. Hedges, Sr.

Robert (Bob) Bolton Hedges, Sr., age 93, died on March 12, 2025, in Hartford, Connecticut. He died peacefully, surrounded by his loving family.  His death followed a sudden deterioration in his health related to complications from heart disease.  Born on January 14, 1932, in Beacon, New York, to Frank Snyder Hedges and Mary (May) Fay Hedges, he lived his life in New York and Central Connecticut.  Bob lived with his family in Glastonbury, Connecticut for more than 60 years.      

Bob was born during the Great Depression, losing his mother to pneumonia at the age of four, in an era before life-saving antibiotics were available. Bob and his only sibling, Frank (Clip) Snyder Hedges, Jr., were raised by their father, their paternal grandmother, Phoebe Frances Schoonmaker Hedges Gordon, and two uncles. Immediately following his mother’s death, Bob’s grandmother moved into the family’s home as primary caregiver. The extended family moved from Beacon across the Hudson River to live together in Newburgh, New York. Bob’s father and uncles worked hard to navigate together the challenging economic times of the 1930s and 1940s. Laid off from his job as a yard clerk for the New York Central Railroad, Bob’s father was hired by a local newspaper agency to distribute newspapers in the greater Newburgh area. Each day, he would often bring home five or six newspapers for the family to read.  While Bob attentively studied the turbulent world news, he especially enjoyed reading the Sporting News.

In those early years, Bob helped the family make ends meet by working at odd jobs. The first money he earned was from cutting grass for his neighbors. He was also paid to help manage the records for the local bowling association, a position that utilized his emerging strength in mathematics. In high school, Bob was hired for sixty-five cents an hour to do chores in the office of a congressional candidate, where he enjoyed listening to conversations about political strategy. During that challenging era of the Depression and World War II, Bob developed the hard-work ethic and stoic optimism that would carry him throughout his life.

During his youth, Bob spent many hours playing basketball at the Newburgh YMCA. He also learned to play chess, and perhaps most profoundly, developed a passion for baseball. From an early age, Bob was a great baseball fan, and was especially loyal and dedicated to the New York Yankees. He invested long hours listening to radio broadcasts of Yankees games and the colorful commentary of longtime Yankees play-by-play sportscaster, Mel Allen. In the unsettled times of Bob’s youth, baseball provided an organizing cadence and comforting rhythm. He listened faithfully to every Yankees game and counted among his favorite players Phil Rizzuto, Joe DiMaggio, and Lou Gehrig. As a nine-year-old boy, Bob assembled one of his most cherished possessions, a scrapbook of the daily newspaper headlines from DiMaggio’s 1941 record-setting, 56-game, hitting streak.   

In the Newburgh public schools, Bob excelled as a student. He won academic contests on wide-ranging subjects from U.S. history to doing math computations on a slide rule. In 1949, as a senior at Newburgh Free Academy, Bob earned the top score for mathematics in the New York State Regents exam. When he graduated from the Newburgh Free Academy in 1949, he was voted “Most Likely to Succeed,” and was asked to speak at his graduation. A budding patriot, he chose to recite Walt Whitman’s famous poem titled “America”, evoking the progressive theme of equal opportunity for all.   

After high school, lacking the family resources to attend a traditional university, Bob attended Webb Institute of Naval Architecture in Glen Cove, New York. With his math prowess, he was awarded a full scholarship to this esteemed naval architecture and marine engineering school; he had no experience with ships or sailing. Bob subsequently attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to earn a master’s degree in marine engineering. While at MIT, where from his dorm room he could see the lights of Fenway Park, Bob (more than once) walked across the Charles River’s Massachusetts Avenue Bridge to attend baseball games.

Bob found professional success as a marine and power systems engineer. From the mid-1950s through the mid-1990s, he worked for Babcock & Wilcox, General Electric, Pratt & Whitney, and Combustion Engineering. Bob traveled the world on shipbuilding projects and advanced to become the General Manager of Combustion’s Marine and Industrial Division. Upon his retirement from Combustion in 1991, restless, Bob launched a second career as a small-business entrepreneur with his son, Tom. In 1992, they formed Hedges and Hedges, Ltd., a company specializing in electronic printing of business communications. Even three months before his health failed, Bob continued to work daily at the print shop. At the age of 92, he continued to be the earnest and dedicated hard worker that he was as a child and young adult. 

Most importantly, Bob was dedicated to Ginny, his wife of more than sixty-three years, his four children, and his ten grandchildren. In his children’s youth, he was always available to help with schoolwork, provide transportation for a weekend ski outing, serve as an official at a swim meet, or coach them through tough personal challenges. He learned and mastered new skills-- like being a swim meet race starter or how to adjust a snow ski boot binding-- just to support the pursuits of his children.  His commitment to his children’s competitive swimming translated into his becoming a lifelong member of Glastonbury’s Woodledge Swim Club. To his grandchildren, he was always the source of chuckling humor and encouragement to “just work hard at it”. Bob’s long life also allowed him to meet and hold his seven great-grandchildren.

Family gatherings were always the top priority and a great source of joy for Bob. Whether in Glastonbury, at Eastman in New Hampshire, or in the homes of his adult children, Bob enjoyed being the Turkey Carver at Thanksgiving, the Head Elf at Christmas, the Game Scorekeeper at the kitchen table, and the winner of backyard family bocce tournaments into his nineties. Above all else, he especially cherished every moment with Ginny, which included his time spent as her primary caregiver during her final months of life. Their patient love and enduring marriage was a model for everyone who knew them.

Looking back at Bob’s life, one can see baseball contributing a consistent backdrop and reliable soundtrack to his life. The game’s history, rhythms, and seasonality meant so much to him. It also gave Bob the opportunity to coach his children on the game’s sweet arcaneness -- how to throw a knuckleball, keep a baseball box score, and always arrive early to the ballpark to watch batting practice. Bob coached Little League baseball for ten years in Glastonbury, also serving for many years as League treasurer. His only baseball disappointment was never being able to convince any of his children (or his wife, Ginny) to join him as fans of his beloved Yankees.   Just recently, a photo of Bucky Dent’s back-breaking homerun off Mike Torrez in the classic 1978 Yankees-Red Sox American League championship playoff game, autographed by both players, was found stored away in Bob’s closet at his home in Glastonbury.  To keep family peace, Bob had graciously never hung the photo.

Whatever the pursuit -- baseball, U.S. history, math, a freestyle kick-turn, lawn mowing, properly washing a car in one’s driveway, or preparing tax returns -- Bob was always a patient coach. Bob believed fervently in the maxim, “Every job, big or small, do it right or not at all.”  When a job was well done, Bob would exclaim, “You are a gentleman and a scholar.”  That he was.

A believer in the promise of the American Dream, Bob was an optimist. He understood how hard work and commitment would lead to its own reward. He would humbly allude to his own life’s journey as evidence that dreams can come true through one’s committed efforts. Indeed, for Bob, that was true, and his journey serves as a template for all.

In 1992, Bob was predeceased by his brother, Frank (Clip) Hedges, and his beloved wife Ginny predeceased him on May 21, 2021. He is survived by their three sons, a daughter, and their spouses: Robert Bolton Hedges, Jr., and Christie Patenaude Hedges of Orford, New Hampshire; Thomas Brian Hedges and Patricia Braun Hedges of Glastonbury; John Jeffrey Hedges and Ann Marie Reichart Hedges of Glastonbury; and Patricia Ann Hedges Weeks and Admiral Todd Sinclair Weeks (U.S. Navy), of Springfield, Virginia. He is also survived by his ten grandchildren and their spouses: Benjamin and Jennifer, Connor and Elizabeth, Ian and Bridget, Ryan and Sara, Kara and Steven, Corey, Lindsey, Christopher, Tyler, and Jodie, and his seven great-grandchildren, Layne, Olivia, Claire, Tripp, James, Sophie, and Bowen.

The Hedges family would like to thank the staff and caregivers of Hartford Hospital’s 10 North Cardiology unit.   The team’s grace, care, and kindness were truly extraordinary.

A funeral service will be held on Friday, March 21 at 11am in Saint James Episcopal Church, 2584 Main St., Glastonbury. Burial will follow in Holy Cross Cemetery, Glastonbury. For online condolences please visit www.mulryanfh.com