Untitled Document

MAINE
ASSOCIATION OF
INTERDEPENDENT
NEIGHBORHOODS

Peace, Bread & Justice - MAIN logo

With much sadness we write to share the news that our dear friend and much respected and admired activist, Bob Philbrook, passed away on September 30, 2003 at the age of 73. Bob was a man who made a great deal of difference in the world in which he lived. Maine and the world is a better place because he was here.

Besides being the Vice President and a founding member of MAIN, and a tireless advocate for low-income people and those with disabilities, Bob was a friend to us all and a passionate advocate for treating all people with dignity. He has served on numerous boards and advisory committees, including the Medicaid Advisory Committee, the board of Pine Tree Legal Assistance, the Peoples Regional Opportunity Program, the Youth Opportunity Office and the Polio Support Group. Bob was a founder of the Portland welfare rights group, We Who Care in the early 70's, a group that continues to fight for fairness and economic security for low income families today. And, perhaps little known to MAIN members, he was a watch maker, pilot and he enjoyed fishing.

Perhaps Bob was most at home at the State House, or in City Hall where he passionately and skillfully carried the message of social and economic justice for low-income families to policy makers.

Over the years he fought for increases in AFDC (later TANF) benefits for low-income families with children; for affordable housing and health care; and fair treatment for prisoners and families involved in the child protective system.

Bob understood poverty, its impact on both families and society and why and how it should change and communicated those ideas to others in a manner that was both powerful and persuasive.

Bob invited, and often insisted, that all of us join him in these efforts. Justice was the goal of Bob's work and he wouldn't rest until the next campaign was won. He would be pleased to know that the work that we all do every day will continue to contribute to that goal. Martin Luther King Jr. once made an observation that will act as a gentle reminder of how Bob would like us to carry on: "Social change cannot come overnight, but we must always act as though it were a possibility the very next morning."

We send our love and condolences to Bob's family whom many of us have come to know either first hand or through the frequent stories he would tell about them. We share their sorrow and want them to know our lives have been greatly enriched by the man they call husband and father.

Read more about Bob on MAIN's Memorial Guestbook, and add your own memories & comments. To reach the "guestbook," click here.

Those who wish can send cards and notes to Bob's wife:
Sandy Philbrook,
295 Capisic Street
Portland, ME 04102.

A loving husband, father, citizen extraordinaire, friend to underdogs everywhere - a man of justice who you could always find on the side of the Davids, struggling tirelessly against the Goliaths of this world - Bob Philbrook will indeed be sorely and deeply missed. Bob touched so many of us, throughout the state, throughout the legislature, throughout our communities.

My partner and I first met Bob Philbrook in the early Spring of 2002, when we first joined Portland Organizing to Win Economic Rights (P.O.W.E.R.). Since then he has played many roles in our lives, as our chauffeur, our mentor, our comedian, our mechanic, our project engineer, our co-conspirator in rabble-rousing, our companion in pursuit of justice, our friend in times of difficulty, our role model, our family. There just aren't words enough to describe all that this man meant to us.

Bob, my dearest friend, so many hearts are aching today for you. You have given so much of yourself to so many. Your everlasting faith and love for all man-kind touches us all. With a twinkle in your eyes and a smile on your face you have opened many a heart to see the ways toward Peace, Bread & Justice.

Ron and I will miss your smile and your "hello old Friend" but we are sure that you will be with us as we keep up the work that you so willing devoted your life to.

Rest well my friend, your work here is done. Those who love you will pick up and continue on. I have no doubt in my mind that by now you are organizing the Angels & spreading your love.

Ron and I send our love and prayers to Sandy and the family along with a special thank you for their willingness to share Bob with us.

Just his presence in the room would assure that the issues of the poor and underserved would rise to the top of the discussion. He spoke so effectively. He was a loving advocate who saw the good in everyone that he encountered.

Robert Philbrook was one of the kindest-hearted human beings that you would ever want to meet. He was a selfless pioneer who devoted his time on this Earth to helping others, never shutting the door, nor turning a fellow human away before explaining how to find a reasonable path to one's destination. That was Bob's style: encouraging self-sufficiency to those who needed it most - sometimes in an almost hypnotic, gentle and strikingly direct way, compounded by his pauses of silence, that look with the eyes...

And for those who may have had an abundance of achievements in their life, he encouraged those folks to share with the less fortunate. If not, the oratorical wrath of Bob Philbrook would come forth to stun the strongest masters of ideology -- or taut purse strings.

Brother Bob, your journey and tenure here was brief, yet shared so without self; your talents you vested in all people, far and wide, friend and foe. The burden you carried is now the league you enter, beyond human comprehension and comfort; for you are a gifted spirit, eternal to the Universe of Peace. God rest your soul, Friend Bob.

Every summer, New England Quakers get together for a week, and take care of business, and fellowship. Every year there is a coffeehouse/talent show/open mic, and Bob spearheads a Dixieland band. It's a tradition that warms all of our spirits, young and old, seeing Bob, and other Friends up on stage. Bob, as joyful as ever, on his trumpet, as the audience weaves around the room in a conga line, singing "When the Saints Go Marching In." Bob will be with us as we continue our "march" for economic justice. Bob is truly a saint we have had been blessed to live and work with. Oh how I want to be in that number. And that's how I will remember Bob best, playing with such love, joy and spirit, the way he did everything in life. And that's another shining example of how to live on this earth.

Through this darkest of years in my own life, it is the people I am privileged to know in MAIN and other social justice groups that keep me keeping on. Bob was so much more than an activist. He was a warm, funny, caring man, a family man whose family just kept growing as he reached out to touch all of our lives and so many others'. Let's keep the family growing, not for Bob's sake, but for ours, and for the sake of all the world's children, who meant so much to him. For peace with bread and justice for all, and with love to Sandy and the kids and grandkids.

Bob Philbrook will long be remembered by this humble person as one who carried all the problems of the displaced, homeless, hungry, tired and voiceless. His burdens were a heavy load for anyone to bear and yet he was a knight in shining armor riding down the halls of the capital on his own two feet. Bob was a dear friend and I treasure the times we shared together as he lightened my load with a remark, compliment or a joke. His passion and remarkable fortitude will be sorely missed by this legislator. Good bye sweet knight keep the light burning until we meet again! Your friend Pam.

Bob has always been able to bring out the best in people, and to convince them to work harder if things weren't going as we wanted them to. I don't believe I have ever seen Bob angry or upset, but Bob could debate a subject until you had to agree with him. Ray and I loved him very much and will miss him. He will live on in our hearts and memory. And hopefully we will all do him proud by carrying on his work.