Army Air Corp. and U.S. Air Force veteran of WWII and Korean era

Published July 1, 2020

WAKEFIELD — Robert M. Coles, 91, died March 30, 2020 at the Brightview Assisted Living in Wakefield.

Born in Malden on August 20, 1928 he was the son of the late Charles F. and Ethel (Kennedy) Coles.

Mr. Coles was raised and educated in Malden. He served in the Army Air Corp. and the United States Air Force during World War II and the Korean era. He had retired as an engineer from MIT Lincoln Laboratories in Bedford. He was a member of St. Joseph Church of Wakefield and a former parishioner at St. Patrick Church in Stoneham. Mr. Coles had been a longtime Stoneham resident. Along with his wife he was a resident of Edgewater and St. Augustine Florida since 2004 and loved to travel. Mr. Coles was a member of the Hacienda Veteran’s Association in Edgewater, Florida.

He was the husband of the late Joan M. (Bradley), with whom he shared many wonderful years of marriage. Mr. Coles was the loving father of Patricia McDonald and her husband Steven of Wakefield, Susan Selfridge and her husband Robert of St. Augustine, Fla., Robert Coles and his wife Mary Beth of Stoneham and the late Bradley Coles. He was the brother of the late Charles Coles, Jr., Gertrude Coles, Ellerton Coles, John Coles, James Coles, Marion Steeves, Kathleen Hopkins and Raymond Coles. Mr. Coles was the father-in-law of Kathleen Coles of Sutton. He is also survived by 10 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Funeral services were private. Arrangements were in the care of the McDonald Funeral Home, Wakefield.