The Friends of Saint Benedict are mourning the loss of Robert W. Boehm, a longtime Member of the Third Order of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who died on January 17th, after a brief illness. Bob, who received the Last Rites just before his death, was 78 years old. He had been, for many years, a resident of Bedford, New Hampshire.
Born in Englewood, New Jersey, in 1943, Bob graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 1966. He went on to serve his country as an aviator in the United States Marine Corps during the war in Vietnam.
In the struggle to save that nation from the murderous tyranny of Communism, Bob flew an extraordinary 99 missions as a Forward Air Controller, in an unarmed, low flying, single engined aircraft. (In World War, in the Eighth Army Air Force, the individual limit for airmen was 25 combat missions.)
After the war, Bob served thirty years as a commercial pilot with Delta Airlines. A pious, traditional Catholic with an intense devotion to Our Blessed Lady, Bob, whose tertiary name was Brother Robert Alphonsus, had been a Third Order Member since 2004. He was responsible for the recitation of the Third Sorrowful Mystery---The Crowning with Thorns---for Saint Benedict Center's Saint Philomena Rosary Apostolate.
Brother Andre Marie, the Prior of Saint Benedict Center, said Bob was "a good man, a staunch Catholic, an exemplary Slave of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and a good friend."
Bob is survived by his wife of 54 years, Michaele, and two daughters and four grandchildren. A Requiem Mass will be celebrated for Bob Boehm on Friday, February 4th at 10 am at Saint Stanislaus Church, at 5 Green Street, in Nashua. Bob will be waked at the Lambert Funeral Home, at 1799 Elm Street, in Manchester, on Thursday, February 3rd, from 4 pm to 7 pm.
The Friends of Saint Benedict Center wish to extend our sincere condolences to Michaele and to her entire family on this sad occasion of their grievous loss.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they might be loosed from sins. — 2 Maccabees 12:4