Robert E. Lingner

Worcester - Robert E. Lingner, 93, of Worcester, died peacefully at home on Monday, August 25, 2025. He was predeceased by his wife of 53 years, Sally, his son Richard, and his sister, Nancy Carson, of Alabama. He leaves three sons: David and his wife Susan, of Santa Rosa, CA; Robert, Jr. and his wife Cynthia Thompson, of St. Louis Park, MN; Thomas and his wife, Amy Benson, of Belmont; and one daughter, Susan Yacino and her husband, Christopher, of Dudley; four grandchildren: Matthew and Scott of California; and Buddy and Margaret of Minnesota.

Robert (Bob) was born in Worcester, son of W. Earle and Hazel E. (Silver) Lingner. He graduated from South High School in 1950, earned a B.A. from Clark University in 1954, and a Master’s in Geology from the University of Maine, Orono, in 1956.

Just before the start of his senior year at Clark, Bob took a job as organist at the First Congregational Church in Holden, MA, where soon Sally, a soprano in the church choir, began staying after rehearsal to listen to him practice his pieces for Sunday. They were married in that very church in June of 1955, and Bob would remain (and return) as organist there until finally retiring sixty years later!

Bob was a born teacher and mentor. While still in high school he served as a counsellor at Camp Blanchard in Sutton and later was a member of the staff at Nature Training School in Paxton. His profession (he rarely called it a “job”) was teaching geology and geography at the college level, first at East Stroudsburg State College in Pennsylvania, and then at Worcester State College, from 1968 until his retirement in 2005. At the time of his departure, his annual Connecticut River Valley field trip was legendary among staff and students.

Bob was voted “Most Likely to Succeed” by his high school classmates, and according to his children, his greatest success was being the best father they could possibly imagine. All of them remember well from their young childhoods the bedtime “subjects”–usually topics from the natural world such as weather, landforms, rivers, etc.–about which Bob would talk in substantial depth. He read bedtime stories too, of course, including the particularly memorable Treasure Island; none of his kids will ever forget the tapping cane of “Blind Pew.” Bob also exposed his children to pleasures and knowledge that they were unlikely to get at school. A huge fan of the light opera of Sirs Gilbert and Sullivan, Bob always knew when and where productions were being staged in Massachusetts, and he took the family to as many shows as time and budget would allow. And since Bob was a quaternary geologist, the children will never mistake a drumlin for an esker or a kame.

Summers in the Lingner household also often featured camping trips–Sebago Lake State Park in Maine was a favorite–and road trips in the family Volkswagen bus to Florida, Alabama, Wisconsin, or the Badlands of South Dakota. Every August, Bob’s five kids would gather–often with friends, and eventually with their spouses and their own children–at the family cottage in Ocean Park, Maine. It was there that Bob and Sally established the traditions of card and board games, crossword puzzles, home edition Jeopardy, slide shows, and large, boisterous meals that the family treasure to this day.

Bob always took a keen interest in the lives and activities of his five children and four grandchildren. In later years, when his offspring were scattered across the country, he visited each of them regularly–usually on an Amtrak train. He and Sally eventually logged more than 300,000 miles riding the rails.

While his passing leaves a massive void in the hearts of his descendants, Bob’s love, kindness, generosity, quirky spirit, and steadfast presence in all of their lives will be an inspiration and a model to carry forward.

The family would like to express its thanks to the Visiting Nurses Association hospice team for their services, and Dave, Bobby, and Tom want to offer their deep personal appreciation and thanks to Sue, for her dedicated and loving care during her father’s final days.

A memorial service to celebrate Bob’s long and meaningful life will be held at the First Congregational Church in Holden, Ma, at 11:00 AM on Saturday, September 13.