IN MEMORIAM: Robert Hamlyn ’53

The Rev. Robert C. Hamlyn, Class of 1953, died on December 3, 2022, in Poughkeepsie, NY. Born in Nebraska, the son of a Baptist missionary, he was raised in Brooklyn, NY, and he graduated from Lafayette College, PA, remaining an active alumnus. He attended General and was ordained a priest in 1953.

Hamlyn served as Vicar of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Fort Lee, NJ before completing a 3-year internship at the American Foundation of Religion and Psychiatry, while serving as Assistant Priest at Grace Episcopal Church, New York City. In 1962, he became Chaplain of Grasslands Hospital (now Westchester Medical Center) and the Westchester County Department of Correction’s Jail and Penitentiary in Valhalla, NY. There he became the first Director of Pastoral Care, pioneering and providing interfaith clinical education programs for community pastors who served as Chaplains at facilities on the Grassland Campus for 28 years.

Hamlyn co-founded the Foundation for Religion and Mental Health in 1968 and was a founding member and diplomat of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. He also served on the Board of Ethics for the Town of Putnam Valley, NY in the 1970’s, where he lived with his wife and family for 43 years.

In his retirement, Hamlyn was a founding member of a Caribbean parish outreach program, Caribbean Ministries. He continued offering his services as a priest to Anglican parishes on Anguilla in the British West Indies well into his 80’s. For the past 28 years he has been member of the Board of Directors of the Field Hall Foundation (formerly, The Field Home) in Cortland Manor, NY.

Since 2004, Hamlyn and his wife, Klara (Claire) have lived happily in Poughkeepsie, enjoying the region’s performing arts, and spending winters on their beloved island of Anguilla. Throughout his life, “Bob” was an adventurer and explorer, travelling the globe, learning to ski at 40, getting his sailboat captain’s license at 50, scuba diving and then snorkeling well into his late 80’s. The curious intellectual, he took courses at the Center for Lifetime Learning at Marist College every year, including this past fall at 93-years of age. Bob sang joyfully in choirs since boyhood and his wonderful tenor voice enhanced all the liturgies he celebrated. Warm, generous, and gregarious, Bob was a great storyteller in the classic sense, with a charming smile and easy, infectious laugh. He is survived by his great love, his wife, Claire, of 68 years, 3 daughters, 4 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. Memorials will be announced at a future date.

From an obituary provided by the family.