Obituary: Robert King Dee, 86

Robert King Dee, 86, of East Greenwich, died peacefully surrounded by his loving family on May 14. He was the beloved husband of Madelyn (Rocchio) Dee, and the cherished father of Richard Dee and his wife Bonnie of East Greenwich; Nancy Dee and her husband Tom Zorabedian of Wakefield; David Dee and his wife Olivia DeFrancesco of Exeter; late Robert King Dee, Jr.; and his "fourth son," Fred Joyal of Manhattan Beach, Calif., and he was the proud grandfather of Luca Dee.

He was born in Springfield, Mass., to the late Richard Dee and Helen (King) Dee. He was the brother of Mary Murphy of Northborough, Mass.; John Dee of Petaluma, Calif.; James Dee of Enfield, Conn., and Carole Childers of Aurora, Colo., and the late Richard Dee, Jr., and Alan Dee.

After growing up in Wellesley Hills, Mass., and serving in the U.S. Navy, Bob graduated in 1950 from Brown University, where he met Madelyn, the love of his life. They were married for 61 years.

He was the business manager of Norwood Chevrolet until his retirement in 1989. Father Dee, as he was known by many, was, above all, a devoted family man who made his family's home a recreational center of the neighborhood. He imbued his children with his strong belief in the philosophy, "He ain't heavy, he's my brother," and he enriched their lives with skiing, Broadway musicals and their clever lyrics, taking multitudes of family pictures, playing pool, his love of grammar and the intricacies of the English language, decades of family poker games, and the joys of a good score at the roulette wheel. He had a very clever wit, and made humor a big part of his family's life. He was an avid bridge and chess player, and he traveled extensively with his wife and children. He was a true gentleman with impeccable manners, and a remarkably patient, even-tempered, gentle man with great integrity, who always did the right thing.

Bob was a master limerick writer, with the ability to instantly write a limerick on any subject. When his brother, an attorney, challenged him to write a limerick about the word orange, which has no rhyme, he immediately crafted the following:

With a barrister's cunning he said,
On this limerick topic you're dead.
You are certain to lose,
'Cause the subject I choose,
Is the color 'twixt yellow and red.

So we feel it fitting to conclude with a limerick tribute of our own:

We will see you again, though we cry.
So safe travels for now, not goodbye.
All our lives we'll pursue,
The example of you,
A tough task, since you set the bar high.

A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday at 12 noon at the Hill Funeral Home, 822 Main Street, EG. Burial will be private. Visitation prior to the Memorial Service will be from 11 a.m. until 12 noon. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Bob's memory can be made to Home and Hospice Care of Rhode Island, 1085 N. Main St., Providence, R.I., 02904. To read and leave condolences, click here.