COLUMBUS
Robert (Rob) Stilwell passed away peacefully of natural causes at Hearthstone Health Campus in Bloomington, Indiana October 19, 2021. Born in 1933, he survived his mother, Nellie Mae Best Stilwell, and his adoptive father, Charles Stilwell. Rob never married.
He was a resident of Columbus, Indiana and most recently, Bloomington. Rob graduated from Columbus North High School in 1951 and worked on the assembly line at Cummins for three years, until he was able to attend Indiana University (AB in English in 1957), and Ohio State (Ph.D. in 1965). He became an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Michigan and later moved back to Columbus, Indiana to care for his mother.
Never far from a university, he became an Adjunct Lecturer at IUPUC (Indiana University, Purdue University Columbus) where he taught poetry and composition.
Rob dearly loved his students, the staff, and other faculty at IUPUC. He was a remarkable poet and scholar, and an aficionado of all sorts of music (classical, folk, and rock).
When Rob became very ill and was hospitalized for seasonal influenza followed by several bouts of pneumonia, he sold his home, entrusted his beloved dog Dusty to an excellent caregiver, was transferred to a succession of nursing homes, and, eventually, to an Assisted Living facility in Bloomington.
Having no living relatives, Rob allowed a couple of his former colleagues to act as his health care representatives and POA’s. In addition to his POA’s, he acquired a “family” of three more former colleagues who stayed in touch through visits and phone calls, and annual celebrations of his birthday when he loved to give readings of his poetry.
According to Rob’s wishes, he will have no official funeral; his ashes will be interred in the plot next to his mother’s grave in Garland Brook Cemetery in Columbus. His adoptive family wishes to express their gratitude to Indiana Green Burial, Hospice of Southern Indiana, Gentry Park Assisted Living, Eldercare, and Hearthstone Health Campus.
Messages of condolence may be expressed at IndianaGreenBurials.com
