Robert R. LaFortune

Robert R. LaFortune of Winchendon passed away at home, peacefully and surrounded with love, on August 16, 2024, after a long illness.Born in Gardner, Massachusetts to Florine (Belliveau) and Raymond LaFortune, Bob graduated from Gardner High School in 1957. Despite his teenage dreams of becoming a rock and roll star, Bob studied history at Bates College in Maine and received his Juris Doctor degree from Washington and Lee University in Virginia in 1964. Soon after graduating from law school, he happened to attend a Halloween party and met the love of his life, Britta Ekelund. Fiercely proud of his French Canadian heritage, he nevertheless fell hard for the Scandinavian, and they married a year later.Bob loved to travel abroad, starting with a trip to Italy in the summer of 1957 with the American Field Service. Frequent trips to visit Britta’s family in Sweden meant that he could indulge his love of farming, and when traveling in France and Canada he enjoyed speaking his native French. Hiking tours in rural England were a frequent favorite, and he made many new friends along the way.

Bob practiced real estate and probate law in Winchendon for 55 years. He took great pleasure in helping people in the community, and his gregarious nature endeared him to many. His greatest joy, however, was his family. He relished their time together, whether cross country skiing, snowshoeing, or ice fishing in winter; sailing, swimming, canoeing, and making pancakes for all the grandchildren at “Camp Mormorpepere” at Queen Lake in summer; playing the guitar for them, and, in later years, the banjo; trying new recipes (which always seemed to require an obscure new tool or ingredient); and daily walks around the neighborhood with Britta. Bob leaves his beloved wife Britta; his daughter Beth and her husband Mark; his son Kai and his wife Jane; his grandchildren Alexandra, Matilda, Helen, Augustus, and Linnea; his brother Michael and his wife Barbara; and extended family and countless friends.

A Service of Remembrance will be held on Saturday, September 14 at 2 pm at the Church of the Unity in Winchendon. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the Lewy Body Dementia Association in memory of Robert R. LaFortune to support research and awareness at: Lewy Body Dementia Association, 912 Killian Hill Road, S W., Lilburn, GA 30047 (lbda.org/donate).

Kevin J. Mack, Walter C. Taylor, Melissa A. McQuaid, Funeral Directors.