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Robert Kennison
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Obituary for Robert Chesley Kennison

Robert Chesley  Kennison
PLYMOUTH-Robert Chesley Kennison died September 28th in Plymouth, MA, from complications following stroke. He was 87. Born May 28, 1924 in Worcester, he was the son of the late Paul H. Kennison and Elizabeth R. (Williston), and sister of the late Carol A. Kennison (Whitney), all formerly of Westborough.
A 1942 Westborough High School graduate, Robert entered the US Army Air Corps as a glider pilot trainee, but cutbacks saw him enlist in the US Navy in mid-1943 for the naval aviation cadets program. Almost a year later he was still in basic training, so he transferred to the Navy Armed Guard - naval personnel assigned to merchant vessels in communications, signaling, and gunnery roles - hoping to see action by war’s end. And action he saw, in convoys across the North Atlantic as a gunner aboard the Liberty Ships SS Harriet Tubman, SS Elbridge Gerry, and a T2 Tanker, SS Prairie Grove, until his honorable discharge in 1946. Humble about his service, he would say, “We just did what we were asked to do,” and often recalled friends from Westborough Fred Fleming, Francis Tully, and Harold Thompson, all killed in action, and the late Jim Marple of Burnsville, WV, a navy friend from those days.
Robert received his Bachelor’s Degree from Boston University after the war, and soon joined the Bell System with New England Telephone & Telegraph where for 32 years he worked mainly in managerial positions in business systems, sales, and marketing, including as account manager for Digital Equipment Corporation. While on loan to American Telephone & Telegraph, he was a talent assessor at the Management Assessment Program Center in Atlanta and a lecturer at the Data Communications Training Center in Cooperstown, NY. His time with “Ma Bell” saw the introduction of the Touch-Tone telephone, personal use phones and devices, advanced switching, and the rise of solid-state electronic components, computers, and technologies central to the telecommunications infrastructure we use today. He was a member of the Telephone Pioneers of America and, as a lifelong aviation enthusiast, the Experimental Aircraft Association.
Besides family, Robert loved golfing, playing clarinet and enjoying Dixieland jazz music, carpentry, watching ice hockey, and caring for the late “Lucky,” his cat.
He is survived by his beloved wife Marjorie E. (Stone) Kennison; son Michael and his wife Nancy, of Newburyport; his daughters Merrill, of Plymouth, and Sara Falk and her husband Peter, of Cohasset; son David, of Lancaster; and three grandchildren, Alex Falk of Cohasset, and Mariel and Linnea Kennison both of Stow. Nephews and a niece of the Whitney family, Craig, Jane, and Dana, all formerly of Westborough, nephew Doug Stone, of Northborough, cousin in-law David Farrar, of Westborough, and all members of his extended family and many friends were all important to Robert.
Memorial donations can be made to the New England Center for Homeless Veterans, Boston, to the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Boston, or to a charity of your choice.
To leave a message of condolence for the family, view the Book of Memories, and see memorial service plans as they develop please visit www.brittonfuneralhomes.com.

Affiliations


Telephone Pioneers

United States Army Air Corps

US Navy

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