Robert Bolen

Robert Bolen

1939-2016

Robert “Bob” John Bolen of Canton passed away peacefully at his home Friday, July 1, 2016 after a two and a half year battle with pancreatic cancer. 

Mr. Bolen was born Dec. 7, 1939 in Vallejo, Calif. to Carrie and Clarence Bolen.  He attended Pineville High School and McNeese State College in Louisiana.  He served in the U.S. Army at Ft. Chaffee.  He taught high school band in Baton Rouge, Crowley, and Vinton, La.  He spent most of his adult life in Shreveport working at Equifax, First American Claim Service, and the last ten years in Canton as a vendor at First Monday Canton.  

Everyone knew him for his quiet, gentle spirit, and great wit.  He was an expert trumpet player and an accomplished carpenter.  He loved and appreciated the beauty of nature and enjoyed traveling with his wife Diane to some of his favorite places such as the Florida Gulf Coast, Big Bend National Park, Mexico and the West.  He enjoyed life, working in the yard, and listening to good music such as jazz, classical, marches, hymns, and Western cowboy music.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Carrie Hale Bolen and Clarence Roy Bolen of Pineville, La., and sisters, Mary Gilcrease of Tioga, La., and Helen Chance of Ball, La.

Survivors left to cherish his memory are wife, Diane Hay Bolen; mother-in-law, Billie Hay of Canton; brother, Jimmy Bolen of Denham Springs, La.; brother-in-law, Walter Chance of Ball, La.; step-daughters and their husbands, Brandy and Nicholas Ferlito and children, Olivia and Joseph, of Bossier City, La. and Amy and Tommy Robinson and daughters, Kendall and Tristan, of Benton, La.; numerous nieces and nephews; his beloved dachshund companion “Lily” and adopted bird dog “Bird”.

A heartfelt thank you to family and friends for all the prayers, visits, and calls to us during his illness.  A family memorial will be held Sunday, July 24, 2016.