I've been struggling doing these as I knew I couldn't do my parents justice and there was a lot more about them that need to be documented

Robert Ervin Putnam Born on October 18th, 1927 seven in Northampton, MA to Ervin Earl Putnam and Mary Putnam. His younger brother Richard was born on October 17th 1928

The Family story is he lied about his age to join the military and that looks like it was true as he joined the military at age 16 in 1943 the other part of the story is he was accepted into the officers Training at for the Navy but got hand out because of his bad teeth he wanted to be a pilot he ended up joining the Navy Reserves always assigned to the Ship called the uss Bataan On November 17th 1943 I believe you want to join the war before it ended and that is why he lied about his age The city directory says I'm back in Massachusetts living in Massachusetts at 24 Upland Road in Northampton Mass his occupational student After the Navy he went to the University of Massachusetts and got a degree in chemistry and then went on to get his degree his PhD In organic chemistry from the university of Illinois urbana-champaign. The 1950 census shows him a living at the Upland Road address with his parents and brother he was 22 years old and his occupation was listed as other he was not employed at the time. 

 He married Caroline Wright Putnam on August  26th, 1952 in   leads Massachusetts. they were married in the St Catherine church by Reverend Prince Shannon. their first child David Putnam was born in 1953.  Robert got a job with Dupont and the family moved to Wilmington Delaware

 Their second child was borrn there Mary Putnam in 1958 and their third child Robert Putnam was born in 1963 the family then moved to Marietta Ohio This is due the fact that Robert was transferred to the DuPont Plant in Parkesburg West Virginia he eventually became the head of research and development there and was involved in the creation of Teflon and other things like light wires and things like that it is my understanding he holds the number of patents through Dupont but I don't know what they are.

The move was between 1965 and 1969 their  4th child Andrew Putnam myself was born in Marietta in 1969. Early in the family's move to Marietta they join the Unitarian Church. 

Later along with friends in Caroline they created the early music group the Valley Renaissance  consort  in which he played a soprano recorder. I remember the group coming by the house every Sunday night to practice and they played concerts all over the valley.

As one of the ones who started all this effort Robert was very into the family genealogy and eventually formed a group called The American friends of Puttenham to help and support the church and the community in the village of Puttenham England

Robert took many trips around the world for work including Japan and Europe

 he also traveled for fun for canoeing And fly fishing in the Northwest territory of Canada included to the Arctic you can actually find his journals here for those trips he also fly fished in ice and there's one family story associated with the Iceland trip where the Russian Ambassador across from above him and he snagged his waiters and rip them open.  There's also a family story where he and his friends in Canada helped out Gordon Lightfoot who had flipped his canoe and they gave him supplies and things like that as such Gordon thing to make the next concert.

 Robert Learned to fly and became a Private Pilot later in his life and it took great joy in it really enjoyed taking airr photos and became a member of the Flying Club in town.

in his later years Robert was afflicted with Alzheimer's and died in Marietta on April 8th 2011 of a stroke he died at home quietly.

After retirement Robert taught chemistry at the local Community College and Marietta College.

Robert E. Putnam's obituary from the newspaper reads:

Dr. Robert E. Putnam, age 83, of Marietta, Ohio, died at his home on March 30, 2011.

He was born October 20, 1927 in Boston, MA, the son of Ervin and Mary Connell Putnam. From 1945-1946 he served in the U.S.N. and then received a B.S. in Chemistry from the U. of Massachusetts in 1950 and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the U. of Illinois in 1953. Bob held various research positions for E.I. DuPont de Nemours in Wilmington, DE and Lockheed-GA. He took pre-retirement as a Research Manager in 1988. Additionally, Dr. Putnam served on multiple institutions, including on the National Research Council, the Dept. of Chemistry advisory board, and he contributed 20 articles to professional journals and 44 United States patents on new chemistry. Bob was an active member of the First Unitarian Universalist Church, Vets-of-Foreign-Wars (VFW) and the Mid-Ohio Valley Aviation Association at the Marietta-Ohio Airport. Bob was on the board of the American Friends of Pitcairn.

He was a loving husband, father and grandfather. He married Caroline Wright August 23, 1952 in Northampton, MA. He has four children, David   Mary, Robert and Andrew, , Jr. His brother, Richard Putnam, and grandchildren, Arron, Ian, Christopher, Benjamin, Tessa, and Isabella Putnam; Elizabeth and Catherine Bennett, Grandchildren Emma and Adam Bowes; and a grandson, Tucker.

He is also survived by his brother Richard(Virginia) Putnam, and many nieces, nephews and friends.

Above all he was an adventurer with a zest for life, whether canoeing in Canada with a sixty-pound canoe, which was a canoe-building kit, or just canoeing on a creek, piloting his plane, or his hobby of sailing. He is remembered by Islanders (Friends on The American) and many for being a fan of the Icelandic birds in fowl poses. He was a life-long fowl.

Ervin, Mary and family would have experienced the flood that took place in the Connecticut River Valley in the spring of 1936.   Here are some pictures of that flood.

Branch

• Generation 1(Grandparents): Ervin Earl Putnam and Mary Gertrude Connelly

  • Generation 0: Robert Ervin Putnam and (Florence) Caroline Wright