Robert Hedges

Robert E. Hedges, known to all as Bob, passed away peacefully on February 16, 2026. Born in Frederick County, Maryland, on November 1, 1939—all Saints’ Day—he grew up at Waverly, the large Victorian house outside Brunswick where he spent his childhood. At sixteen, following the death of his father, John Sprigg Hedges, Bob assumed significant responsibilities to help support his mother, Nena Adele. After graduating from Brunswick High School in 1957, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, serving as a meteorologist at Ft. Eustis in Williamsburg, Virginia, and later in Miami during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He went on to earn a B.S. in Economics from the University of Maryland on the GI Bill and built a distinguished career as an economist, first with the Civil Aeronautics Board and later at the Department of Transportation, where he rose to Chief of the Western Hemisphere for Aviation Policy. There he briefed diplomats and negotiated complex airspace treaties across the Caribbean, Central and South America before retiring in 1994.

Bob was a devoted and playful father to his three children, Elizabeth, Joan, and Bill, whom he and his first wife, Virginia Dare Sine, raised together after their marriage in 1959. He filled their lives with laughter and encouragement, sharing whimsical sayings and urging them to use their gifts to make a difference in the world. In 1996 he married Marilyn JoAnn DonCarlos in Bethesda, Maryland, and together they shared thirty years of deep friendship, adventure, and joy. They sailed the Chesapeake Bay aboard his yacht Freedom, flew her Mooney airplane to far-flung destinations, and traveled the world. In Virginia they designed and built a beautiful home on the Corrotoman River, where Bob tended his garden and birds and explored the water aboard their privateer deadrise, the Marilyn J. They welcomed family and friends with good food, fine wine, and warm hospitality, while remaining active in the Lively community. Bob’s faith was central to his life; he taught Sunday School, served on church boards, built labyrinths, and continued to sing hymns in his strong baritone voice even after Alzheimer’s disease had taken much else from him. He often said he had been blessed beyond his wildest dreams.

Bob is survived by his wife Marilyn DonCarlos; his children Elizabeth Ripley (Ed), Joan Glynn (Bill), and Bill Hedges (Lisa); his stepdaughter Barbara DonCarlos (Dee), with whom he shared a special bond; grandchildren Emily Ripley Carroll (Aidan), Noah Ripley (Andrija), Bill Glynn Jr., Michael Glynn, Alex Vig, and Amir Vig; great-grandchildren Elias Carroll, Ezra Carroll, and Fiona Barkley; and his siblings Adele (Kai) Marchant (Jay), Harry Hedges (Gwen), and Chuck Hedges (Betty) and their families. He was preceded in death by his former wife Virginia Dare Hedges, his parents, and siblings John Hedges Jr., William Hedges, and Mary Louise Bellack.

Even in his later years at Galloway Ridge Retirement Community, Bob’s humor, positive spirit, and comedic timing endured, bringing smiles to everyone around him. His family remains deeply grateful for the loving care he received there and for Barbara’s steadfast advocacy on his behalf.