Robert Rogers Chaplin, 85, went to be with the Lord on Tuesday, March 1, 2011, at Penick Village, in Southern Pines.
A funeral Mass will be conducted at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 5, at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, in Southern Pines, with Monsignor Jeffrey A. Ingham oficiating. The family will receive friends at the church hall following the service.
Bob was born Feb. 14, 1926, in Memphis, Tenn., to the late Allen and Florence Chaplin. He grew up in Maine, where his family moved during the Depression. He graduated from the University of Maine, where he also worked as an announcer for the Bangor radio station. A year after graduation, he joined the W.T. Grant Co. and over the years managed stores in all the New England states plus North Carolina. Then Bob was promoted to executive vice president and moved into an office in the Grant Building in Times Square, in New York, where he worked until 1976.
Bob then bought a card and gift store in Charlotte that year, which he ran successfully for nine years. During that time, he and his wife traveled extensively. He then sold the business and retired to Whispering Pines to a new home on Spring Valley Lake.
Bob enjoyed playing golf at CCWP, where he was on the beautification committee. He also volunteered for years at Moore Regional Hospital. He was a very loving grandfather, called “Biggie” by all his grandchildren.
He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Betty Chaplin; sons, Mark Chaplin and wife, Jessica, of Middlesex, Vt., and Steve Chaplin and wife, Sue, of Midlothian, Va.; daughters, Nancy Garrett and husband, Sam, of Virginia Beach, Va., and Laurie Bentsen and husband, Jim, of North St. Paul, Minn.; 11 grandchildren; brother, Jack Chaplin and wife, Gloria, of Fort Myers, Fla.; and sister, Carolyn Grant, of South Portland, Maine.
Memorial contributions may be made to Penick Village Foundation, P.O. Box 2001, Southern Pines, NC 28388. Online condolences may be made at www.bolesfuneralhome.com.