Boucher and Pritchard . Funeral Home
Robert Leigh Erwin
Every once in a while, life gives us the opportunity to know and love someone so unique, so special, that it is difficult at best to describe them in a few words. Robert Leigh Erwin, known to everyone as Bobby, was one of those rare souls. Born June 9, 1971. Bobby grew up in Griffin, Georgia. He graduated from Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina in 1993. He met Betsy Walgren through the theater on PC, and they fell in love and married in the fall of 1993. Together they raised three incredible, kind and loving children, Dillon, Tim, and Kady. Bobby died on December 16, 2021 from an aggressive form of colon cancer, diagnosed earlier this year.
Bobby was gifted with a unique curiosity about the world, combined with a deep intelligence and a desire to make those around him feel loved and accepted for who they were. He used his gifts for his early work as a Christian educator, his hobby work as technical director for the Barre Opera House, and as manager of the quality analyst team at Vermont Information Processing, where he worked for a little over 20 years. He was also a member of the Barre Town Fire Department for many years.
Although Bobby excelled in all his professional endeavors, his family always came first – and his friends came very close to second. Bobby loved to encourage his children in everything they did, he cherished the time he spent with good friends and he adored his dogs, who were constant companions. Bobby was an avid lover of the outdoors in Vermont — hiking, camping, backpacking, canoeing, biking, and even running the Burlington Marathon for a year to see if he could do it. After conquering the East Coast trails, Bobby planned to hike the Pacific Coast trail with his best friend Sean. Bobby was an excellent musician and his love for guitar also helped form a local band, Midnight Vigil. Bobby loved a good whiskey and brewed a great beer. He was a master of the grill and made delicious cookies and pizzas – a weekly tradition at the Erwin house.
While undergoing treatment for cancer this summer, he wrote of “the crowd of friends and witnesses” that surrounded him who were “the wind in the air.” [his] back, cooling down [him] down and push [him]He was so grateful to have the best family and friends in the world to help him remember “you don’t have to heal to be whole, your body is just part of you, not the part people love and remember.” Betsy, Dillon, Tim, and Kady will be remembered most fondly for his devotion and joy to being husband and father, and by his mother, Nancy Erwin, and his brother, Michael Erwin, and Michael’s family, for Bobby’s love and adventures with them throughout their lives.
At his request, a celebration of Bobby’s life will be held in the great outdoors of Vermont in the summer of 2022. The family is requesting donations in Bobby’s name to the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge in Burlington, Vermont, where cancer patients and caregivers can find deep kindness amid often grueling treatments.
Arrangements are by Boucher and Pritchard undertakers.
Posted online on December 26, 2021
Published in Burlington Free Press
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