Robert Joseph Rathbun

Robert J Rathbun, an engineer, poet and sailor, passed away on September 11, 2025 after 95 years of abundant life. Born in Kansas City, Kansas on October 7, 1929, Bob graduated from Iowa State College with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1950. Following his service in the U.S. Army, he married Maria Aikin on August 15, 1953, who he had met while both were attending Iowa State.

After working as a boiler engineer for the Riley Stoker Corporation from 1953-1959, Bob joined IBM where he worked for the remainder of his career on projects including the Saturn V rocket, Space Shuttle, Skylab, and Safeguard. While Bob and his family moved from town to town throughout his career, Bob and Maria were always dedicated and diligent members of churches in the places in which they resided. Following the way of Christ, his and his wife’s service to the church emphasized service to those in need, including welcoming a foster daughter, Gloria, into our Huntsville, AL home in the 1960s.

Bob picked up the sailing bug starting with a 11 ft. Sea Snark while residing in Huntsville, AL and culminated in the building of a 38 ft. Liberty sailboat called Halcyon after his retirement in 1987. Bob and Maria sailed in the southern Caribbean during the late 90’s before returning to the States to settle in the Athens, GA area in 2001.

Bob has been writing poems for the past 54 years, and has gifted them to his wife Maria on anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day. More recently, he has extended this gift of poetry to his friends at Talmage Terrace/Lanier gardens, and to his nurses, medical technicians, and therapists at the hospital.

Bob was preceded in death by his wife Maria in 2022. Bob is survived by his son Stephen of Greensboro, GA, his son Wayne and his wife, Renee, of Burlington, WI, his daughter Rosalie of Cumming GA, 4 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.

Memorial services will be held at 2:00pm, Sunday October 12 at LGM 1 in Wesley Woods of Athens at 801 Riverhill Drive, Athens, GA 30606.