Obituary of Robert G Cromwell

Robert G. Cromwell passed away at Hartford Hospital after many years of poor health on April 12, 2018. His family thanks all the doctors and nurses that cared for him. When he passed he was the most comfortable and peaceful than his family has seen him in years.

He was born in 1940 in Scranton Pennsylvania to the late Estelle (Bartis) and Greer Cromwell. He grew up in Clark Summit Pennsylvania and moved to Manchester in his early teens. He graduated from Manchester High School in 1957. He worked at the Grand Union Supermarket in Manchester where he met his best friend Alfred Demko. They would remain friends and become like two peas in a pod for 60 years.

He served in the Army working on missiles in Oklahoma, Alabama and Germany.

He worked at Pratt and Whitney in East Hartford for 38 years before retiring in 1999. He completed a two and a half year tool, die and gage maker course in 1962. He worked his way up thru from that by   working as machinist, then a die maker and a foreman. He designed a number of dies that are still in use today and won the respect of many co-workers, supervisors and engineers. He won a number of awards over his career and his colleagues learned quickly that if they had a problem, Cromwell could figure it out.

He loved fishing, bowling, chess and scrabble. He had a wonderful, but sometimes a little strange sense of humor and loved to pull pranks whether in the army or at work.  He could see projects and problems in 3 dimensions and seemed to be able to design, fix or rebuild just about anything. He loved working on cars until the computers came along. He loved his family very much, probably more than he sometimes showed.

He and his wife of almost 35 years, Linda, had many opportunities to travel in the United States, Europe, Central and South America many times with friends and other times making friends.

He is survived by his wife Linda of Vernon; his children Steven Cromwell of Amston, and his daughter Lisa Allen and her husband James of Hebron; his grandson Randy Allen and his wife Carly of Vernon and his granddaughter Nikki of Hebron; his sister Joan Saimond of Florida, his brother James Cromwell of South Carolina and brother Richard and his wife Loretta of Maine as well as many nieces and nephews.

He was predeceased by his younger brother Kenneth, his ex-wife Denise, his nephews O.J. and Scott and niece Ashley. He had also lost his longtime friend Al a number of years ago. So as Al’s wife says “the two peas in a pod are together again”.

A Celebration of Life will be held on a later date in May. Memorial gifts may be made to the Connecticut Humane Society (click here) or the Hockanum Valley Community Council (click here). For online condolences please visit www.tierneyfuneralhome.com