Robert John Trott Obituary
It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Robert John Trott of Longmont, Colorado, who passed away on October 12th 2018, leaving to mourn family and friends. You can send your sympathy in the guestbook provided and share it with the family. You may also light a candle in honor of Robert John Trott or send a beautiful flower arrangement to the funeral service. For the visitation and funeral service information please see event section below.
Robert John Trott was my dearly beloved Dad. Arthur Conan Doyle's inscription, on his headstone, reads: 'STEEL TRUE, BLADE STRAIGHT,' and this epitaph would fit my father too. He was a New Englander, whose ancestors emigrated from Southwestern England in the 17th century to seek religious freedom in the new world. His childhood was marred by tragedy, when his own father, who was a school principal in Manchester, New Hampshire, suffered an automobile accident and never recovered his health and spirits afterward. This precipitated a sudden descent into poverty for the family. Dad was a shy, bookish boy with dishwater-blond hair who spent his days in the library and had his poetry published in the local paper: having to sell the doughnuts his mother made door-to-door was torture to him. Fortunately he was able to win entrance to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, which set his life on its proper course. His sisters, Barbara and Betty, became an anesthetist and a nurse respectively. Their mother, Ruth, lived to a great old age.
At the time of his graduation, Dad was happily engaged to marry Jane Callaghan, daughter of the commander of the 'Missouri,' but his mother, a Protestant, objected to the devout Catholicism of her family, and it went awry. My middle name, Jane, was given in her honor, Dad having married an Englishwoman called Celia Coghlan (oddly enough, a derivative of the Irish surname Callaghan.) Tragedy again struck Dad with the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) passing of their first child, Jonathan. They subsequently had identical twin daughters, myself and my sister Julie.
Dad was a dedicated career Naval officer, and took great pride in his service. He taught Celestial Navigation at the War College in Rhode Island, and added a degree in International Relations to his achievements. He remained with the 7th Fleet, the Pacific Fleet, throughout his career, except for a brief time in Spain with the 6th Fleet. He was stationed with CINCPACFLT in Hawaii for a long time, and in Honolulu he married his second wife, Alene Taggart. After moving to Oregon in retirement, Dad earned another degree in Business, but they mostly traveled, and explored the world. On a visit to Hawaii, Dad got to know his only grandchild, Jacinthe, and many delightful memories remain.
Dad loved photography, and left many transparencies; it was a joke in the family that he had taken to heart a tip to enliven photo composition by including red somewhere in the picture. They all have red in them. He was a disciplinarian, but also the most thoughtful man one could ever come across. One example of this: his sister in law, Julie, had been a cellist with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Having moved to CA and married, she later went back to England, leaving her beloved cello in storage. She could never quite send for it. So Dad arranged for it to be shipped and delivered to her door as a surprise. Also, he knew that Bob, a nephew by marriage, had lost touch decades earlier with his father. So Dad took endless pains to find this man, who happened to be in the terminal stages of cancer; he sent Bob to meet him, and they were both immensely warmed by the encounter.
