Robert Alan Barton, age 74, most recently of Morrisville and formerly of Madison, WI, passed away on the morning of November 18 at the UVM medical center. His was no long, courageous battle with cancer; it was a sudden and unexpected ambush, he died about a week after being diagnosed.

In his younger days, Rob was a stellar student at Peoples Academy, graduating at the top of his class. Then it was off to Cornell where he majored in mathematics and graduated in 1971. During that time he spent some summers as an intern at IBM in Poughkeepsie, NY. He also took a year off to work in NYC, fortuitously receiving a high number in the draft lottery that kept him out of Vietnam.

After a brief stint working at Social Security in Cairo, IL, he became a systems programmer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He remained there for the rest of his working life and lived at the same address for over 40 years.

When Rob was in his mid-40's, he was found slumped at his desk at work, having suffered a stroke. From then on he lived with a disability, aphasia, a major impairment to his language abilities. He had difficulties with speech, usually speaking in single words or phrases. There were also problems with language comprehension, especially with proper nouns like geographical places or people's names.

Those who knew Rob before his stroke would say he was extremely intelligent; he took advanced courses in mathematics and physics just for the fun of it. He studied languages on his own: German, Russian, and rudimentary Chinese. He traveled frequently, to places like Alaska, Europe, and Australia. Vegas was a common destination, he was a more-than-competent blackjack player and claimed he won more than he lost. He was also a savvy investor in the stock market and lived frugally.

Life with aphasia was an enormous change for Rob. Always an introvert, he now lived an even more internal life, and was not much for social interactions. He limited his travels mainly to family visits in Vermont. He could be stubborn and impatient, was often frustrated in making himself understood, his catch-phrases being "who knows," "who cares," and "maybe yes, maybe no." Worse was when people assumed that because of his aphasia he was "stupid," which was so far from the truth.

Still, he led a pretty good routine and simple life. He could be generous with his money and in 2000 bought a large, lakefront property in the Northeast Kingdom. Camp became the absolute center of our family life for six months every year, and Rob took yearly vacations to visit; two years ago he made the permanent move back to VT.

Rob enjoyed watching the lake and swimming, tracking the weather and lake temperatures, trips in the boat or to town, scrumptious meals at camp were the norm. He was expert at recognizing the cast members of classic movies, and was an aficionado of the 3 Stooges. He was a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers and the Green Bay Packers, keeping a daily watch on their game results. Camp was where he had fun watching the next generation grow from children to adults, now with their own kids.

Robert is survived by his sisters Patti Morse and Ann Boyea, and brothers Tom, Jim, and Rick Barton. He had nine nephews and nieces, now ranging from their 20's to their 50's and spread throughout the east. At last count he had ten brilliant and joyful grandnephews and grandnieces, with another due in weeks. He was the absolute favorite of our Aunt Mary Barton from Brooklyn, recently deceased and the last of her generation.

If you had asked him if we might meet again in this universe or another, Rob's answer would likely be "who knows?" We will all miss him at camp and in our lives. Pax vobiscum.