Robert F. Winne

AMHERST, Robert Frank Winne, 88, died peacefully at home in Amherst on April 22, 2013.

He was born December 27, 1924, in Brockport, NY, the son of Robert Frank and Miriam (Thompson) Winne. His grandmother Lina (Cook) Thompson came from a long line of Cook families in Hadley, and his grandfather Alfred Thompson was the principal of Hopkins Academy in the 1890s and president of Brockport Normal School, now the State University of New York at Brockport, 1910-1936.

As a child, Bob enjoyed family holidays on an island in Georgian Bay in Canada. When Bob was 15 he joined the very first group of campers at the Farm and Wilderness Camps in Plymouth, VT. He went on to be a counselor and lifeguard and met his first wife, Mary Eliot, there. Later his children attended while Bob designed and helped build several camp structures. The camp is still active.

Robert graduated from BrockportHigh School in 1942 and attended one year of college at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY.

He was inducted into the Army in 1943, served in the 289^th Infantry Regiment, and fought in the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes in Belgium. Out of his unit of 40 men he was the only one not killed or wounded. After the war ended in Europe, he was manager of a commissary and supervised imprisoned German officers. He separated from the Army in February 1946.

He returned to college on the G.I. Bill, graduating from the RPI School of Architecture in 1949. He worked for architectural firms in Houston, TX, and Boston, MA, before joining the architecture faculty at RPI. He earned a M.A. in 1960. He had appointments at PennsylvaniaStateUniversity and at BarnardCollege, and retired from RPI in 1988.

His second wife was Ann Hagen Griffiths, a photographer.

In 1986 he and Patricia G. Holland, a writer, were married at their house in Amherst.

He became a member of Amherst Town Meeting. He took part in planning the renovation of Town Hall 1992-1994, served actively on the committee to renovate the North Amherst Library 1995-1996, and in 1997-1998 worked with architect Peter Kitchell to design the Boltwood Walk parking garage.

He had a long interest in the history of art and was a skilled and sensitive photographer. His closest friend was the late artist and craftsman Richard Hooke of Amherst, who with his wife, Ruth Hooke, introduced Bob to Pat.

He leaves behind his wife, his daughter Elizabeth “Lise” Winne, her partner James Lestrange of Saratoga Springs, NY, their daughter Kiersten Lestrange, and his son Clark Thompson “Tom” Winne and his wife Victoria Wilson Winne of Homer, AK.

He leaves his grandchildren, Holland Hill of Edmonds, WA, Vanessa Fefelov of Homer, AK, Amon Winne of Green Lake, WA, and Llosh Winne of Bothell, WA, and five great-grandchildren. He leaves his sister, Alice (Winne) Garlock, and nephew Charles Garlock of Brockport, NY, and his stepson and family, Jonathan, Kristin, and Jesse Lieber of Portland, OR, and his stepdaughter, Lucy Barber, of Washington, DC.

Burial will be at WildwoodCemetery, Amherst, Friday, April 26, at 1 p.m. Arrangements are by the Douglass Funeral Service. Obituary and memorial register at www.douglassfuneral.com.

Service details, Social networking, Memorial Guestbook and Slideshow are available here.