Robert Cairns

Robert Allardyce Cairns of Guilford and Madison, Connecticut died on June 10, 2025 after a short stay at The Connecticut Hospice (fyi, the first Hospice in America!). Born on April 9, 1929, Bob was 96 years old, had lived a very full life, and chose to end his journey on Earth peacefully looking out at a cove and watching boats go in and out of the harbor in Branford.

Bob was born in Wellesley, Massachusetts and grew up there and in Providence, Rhode Island. He left home to attend the Taft School and then Yale University where he graduated in 1951. While at Taft, his family moved to Madison. Upon graduating from Yale, he joined the First National Bank and Trust Company of New Haven (later the First New Haven National Bank and ultimately Bank of America) and rose to be vice-president in charge of the Tax Section of the Trust Department. He married his wife Nancy in 1959 and moved to Guilford where they lived in the same house for 60 years before moving to Madison.

Long before and after retired, Bob gave of himself to his community being an active leader in Christ Episcopal Church in Guilford, the Madison Country Club, and most significantly the Quinnipiac Council of the Boy Scouts of America where he received the highest honor an adult volunteer can receive, the Silver Beaver Award, and continued to serve on camp inspection teams and the development of the Deer Lake Scout Reservation well into his 80’s. On the weekends in the 1970’s and 1980’s, you were likely to pass him on his bicycle as he rode around the State. When he stopped biking, he began hiking with the Keyarts Klamberers, a group of retired men who gathered weekly to walk trails all over Connecticut before adjourning to a pub or restaurant for fellowship.

Bob was devoted to his family and enjoyed nothing more than camping with his wife Nancy (d. 2023) and sons Matt and Andrew all over New England and eastern Canada, attending games at the Yale Bowl, or spending summers at the Madison Beach Club. Once he started telling stories, it was hard to stop him, and to the end he recounted his trips across the country with his family in the 1930’s, a trip on a freighter through the Panama Canal, travels around Europe in 1954, and sailing with friends between Madison and Nantucket.

Bob was predeceased by his wife of 64 years, Nancy, his parents Robert and Franceska Cairns, his older sister, Fran Morrison, and his brothers-in-law, Corky Morrison and Fred Murphy. He is survived by his sister Pauline Murphy of Madison; his children Matt and Tracey Cairns of Warwick, RI, and Andrew Cairns and Carol O’Driscoll of Manhattan; his grandchildren Elisabeth Cairns and Mike Haynes of Manchester, NH, and Madison and Nick Maggio of Salem, MA. He also leaves behind beloved nephews and nieces Liz, Jeff, Sandy, Nancy, Tom, Tyler, Margaret, Tess and Stephen.

Bob will be buried with his parents, Nancy, Fran, Corky and Fred at the Madison Cemetery in a private ceremony. The Guilford Funeral Home is handling the arrangements. If anyone wishes to honor Bob, the family suggests enjoying a Dark and Stormy and a lobster roll in his memory. 

Memorial gifts may also be made to Connecticut Hospice (www.hospice.com) or Christ Episcopal Church in Guilford, Connecticut (www.christchurchguilford.org).