Robert Kilmer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1939 – 2023<\/p>\n
Robert Kilmer was born October 3, 1939, in Tucson, Arizona, to his parents, mother Roberta Daniels Kilmer and father Christopher Kilmer.\u00a0 His native instinct and his talent led him to a life in literature and writing that extended family tradition.\u00a0 His grandfather, Joyce Kilmer, after refusing an officer\u2019s commission, was killed in heroic action in World War 1.\u00a0 Before his death, Joyce was a loved and admired poet.\u00a0 His most famous poem was \u201cTrees.\u201d<\/p>\n
The family moved from Tucson to Oxford, North Carolina, then to Greenwich Village, and finally to Stillwater, New Jersey, where they lived with a friend of his grandmother, the poet Aline Kilmer, until they found a house by what had been a slaughterhouse.\u00a0 His father, a minor poet, named their street \u201cRoadApple Avenue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert\u2019s mother Bert did a wonderful job encouraging his imagination and introducing him to a lifetime of loving literature.\u00a0 After a weak performance in high school he went on to enlist in the U. S. Army.\u00a0 He served in Germany for three and a half years.<\/p>\n
After Robert\u2019s tour in Germany, he enrolled in Louisiana State University.\u00a0 There he learned to love Cajun music and Cajun food.\u00a0 He graduated with a BA in English.<\/p>\n
At graduation he earned a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and was accepted at The University of Chicago.\u00a0 There, he earned his Master\u2019s degree and PhD, awarded \u201cwith honors.\u201d\u00a0 His dissertation was on John Barth.<\/p>\n
Robert\u2019s first teaching job was at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tennessee.\u00a0 After\u00a0four years there he was refused tenure because of his lack of publications and too good a job of teaching.\u00a0 His chairman said he was refused tenure because of his lack of publication.\u00a0 When he asked what was said of his teaching, the chairman said there was one student complaint that \u201cWhen we ask Dr. Kilmer questions, sometimes he tells us to find out for ourselves.\u00a0 Now a few professors said that was good, but others \u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
From Vanderbilt, unemployed, he moved to Arlington, Virginia to live with his sweetheart, Marion MacLean.\u00a0 Eventually they married and bought a house, \u201cLittle Eden,\u201d in Fairfax County.\u00a0 He worked the 1-1\/4 acre lot to become a productive garden, including 250 asparagus plants.\u00a0 He and Marion lived there until their divorce in 1991.<\/p>\n
He joined the faculty of Northern Virginia Community College to help open the Woodbridge campus.\u00a0 He retired after 35 years, as Professor Emeritus in the English Department.\u00a0 In addition to his regular teaching assignments, he had helped start the Honors Program on that campus, working with bright, dedicated students.\u00a0 Robert was a member of the Northern Virginia Writing Project, following Marion into that distinguished fellowship.<\/p>\n
In 1991 he answered an ISO (In Search Of) ad in the Washingtonian<\/em> magazine, meeting Claudia Costello.\u00a0 They married in May of 1993, and he moved to Manassas, joining Claudia, her daughter Sara Costello, and the three cats.\u00a0 His very first project was to start a new asparagus bed in the back yard.<\/p>\n Robert was an avid home-brewer, making over 350 five-gallon batches of ales and stouts.\u00a0 Once the new commercial brewers started making excellent beers he gave up brewing and explored their offerings, finding them as good as his.\u00a0 He was also an excellent cook, serving wonderful dishes to family and friends.<\/p>\n He was able to renew his garden efforts in Manassas, and went on to found The Garden Basket, a community-supported agriculture business.\u00a0 For six years he and Claudia provided vegetables to ten customers for six months a year.<\/p>\n Robert also took up foraging for wild mushrooms, joining the Mycological Association of Washington.\u00a0 He served as its secretary for several years.<\/p>\n Robert is survived by his wife Claudia, her daughter Sara Costello; his sisters Ann Buskirk (Dennis), Margaret Kilmer (Sharon Haug), and Elizabeth \u201cSam\u201d Strain (JJ); \u00a0niece Laine Strain (David); sister-in-law Jenny Mizelle (Don); nephew Alex Carr (Anna), and a host of Kilmer cousins.\u00a0 He was predeceased by his parents, Christopher \u201cKip\u201d and Bert Kilmer, and niece Diana Strain.<\/p>\n