Robert (Bob) L. Hamel

Robert (Bob) L. Hamel, 76, of Hermon, formerly Orrington, Maine died at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine surrounded by family and friends after a brief, unexpected illness.

He was the son of the late Gladys and Vernon Hamel, raised in Hampden, Maine and was the husband of Ann Marie Cliff.

He attended the University of Maine where he achieved a bachelor's degree in civil engineering.

During the early 1970s, he came to Green River and worked at Allied Chemical. He later moved to Orrington, Maine.

He supervised many road construction projects, most recently in the Ellsworth, Maine and Bar Harbor, Maine. Despite an earlier injury he sustained during a chainsaw accident, Bob found satisfaction and joy from tree and woodcutting. He will be remembered for his white cowboy hat and boots and his well-honed cribbage "lessons", spending hours playing cards with his special, lifelong friend Walter and afternoon cribbage games with a dedicated, cribbage group at the Bangor, Maine Senior Center.

He loved the mountains of Wyoming and the coast of Maine, and recently enjoyed a mountain goat hunting trip in Wyoming. He adored hosting family lobster feeds every summer in Maine.

Hamel will be fondly remembered by his former neighbors Ron and Brenda Vaillancourt.

His grandchildren have countless special memories of their Grampy and Papa. Bob and Ann shared many wonderful traveling memories in his last years that brought him much joy.

He is survived by his wife, Ann Marie Cliff and her sons, Lee and his wife, Diane; Terry and his wife, Colleen; Dan and his wife, Karen. He is also survived by his sons from a previous marriage, Doug and his wife, Carolyn; Scott and Linda; Michael and his wife, Shelley; Joseph and his wife, Farrah, all of Wyoming; Jon (Jack) and his wife, Cindy of Colorado. He is survived by his five stepchildren of his late second wife Joan Hamel, Eric and his wife, Karyn of New York; Todd and his wife, Amber of Tennessee; Amy and her husband, Chris of Massachusetts; Mark and his wife, Diane; and Kathy, all of Maine; many loving grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He is survived by one brother, Charles and his wife, Pam, of Maine. He was compassionately and skillfully attended to by the staff of Maine Medical Center for which the family is very grateful.

A private memorial service of family and close friends will take place in July.