Obituary: Robert C. Belado, Retired Maintenance Foreman

Robert C. Belado, 91, of Amherst, a retired maintenance working foreman with Auxiliary Services, died recently at the Elaine Center at Hadley.

Bob was born on Dec. 7, 1926, in Montague and was educated at Montague Center Grammar School. He attended high school in Turners Falls. In the summer months, Bob worked in the Kendall Cotton Mills in Turners Falls, and in senior year he worked as a laborer for the Boston and Maine Railroad in East Deerfield.

Out of high school, he joined the U.S. Coast Guard, serving in East Boot Camp on Manhattan Beach in New York City. Later he was sent to Atlantic City, where he was trained as a radio operator and maintenance worker. Later he was sent to fire damage control school where he learned welding. His last post was in Alameda, Calif.

After leaving the Coast Guard, he returned to the railroad as a foreman, and later worked in car and farm supplies sales. He then moved to Whately, and worked for years as a constable and volunteer firefighter. He was appointed deputy sheriff. He then began working on campus in 1964 as a janitor. He joined Auxiliary Services as a mechanical handyman in 1967 and was promoted later that year to maintenance working foreman. He retired in 1993.

Funeral services are private and will be held at the convenience of the family. A memorial service will be announced at a later date.