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The Reverend Dr. Robert W. Battles Jr., 78, died at the Shell Point Retirement Community in Ft. Myers, Florida, on January 7, 2017. He was 78 and surrounded by his wife, Ruth, three of his brothers, his daughter, Steph and husband Thomas.
Dr. Battles was born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, on October 31, 1938. After graduating from high school in Orlando, Florida, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Nyack College in 1959, and a master’s degree from Stetson University in 1960. Further study at the Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia led to an master’s in divinity degree in 1963 and the following year he received a doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey.
In 1961, he married Ruth Bach of Ventnor, New Jersey, and together they moved to West Palm Beach, where he was ordained by the Presbytery of East Florida. He then became assistant pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in West Palm Beach.
In 1967, he was installed as the 12th pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Bridgehampton. Following the tradition of the pastors of this church, he was active in the local community, serving as president of the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center and on the Migrant Committee of the Long Island Council of Churches. He was the secretary of the South Fork Clergy Fellowship and a member of the Ministerial Relations Committee of the Presbytery. In 1975, he was called to become the senior pastor at Germonds Presbyterian Church in New City, New York, where he and his wife were actively involved in helping people with special needs and working with BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services).
Beginning in 1979, Dr. Battles served as the senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Mount Clemens, Michigan, for 10 years. While there he was an alumni trustee of Princeton Seminary and he preached at Princeton University’s annual Service of Remembrance. He also served as a seminary intern advisor for Princeton, mentoring and guiding young pastors.
From Mount Clemens he moved to Gainesville, Florida, where he was the senior minister of First Presbyterian Church. While in Gainesville, he led the church through significant renovations of the classrooms, fellowship hall and sanctuary and together with Dr. Mark Coffey, director of music, he brought a C.B. Fisk pipe organ to the sanctuary. While there he started an after-school program with the help of his wife to serve students in the Porters neighborhood just south of the church.
After retirement he accepted a position as interim pastor at Community Presbyterian Church in Pinehurst, North Carolina. From there, he and his wife moved to Salisbury, North Carolina, and then on to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, before settling in Ft. Myers, Florida.
In addition to his wife, daughter and brothers, he is survived by a granddaughter, Olive.
Funeral arrangements were under the direction of the Milam Funeral Home in Gainesville. An interment service will be held in the spring at Edgewood Cemetery in Bridgehampton.
Memorials may be made to Hope Hospice through The Legacy Foundation at Shell Point in Ft. Myers.
on Jan 12, 2017