Obituary: Robert (Bob) Weller Chamberlin

Published 12:15 am Friday, April 12, 2024

Longtime Seaside resident Robert (Bob) Weller Chamberlin, 93, passed away peacefully on March 3 at home in Charles Town, West Virginia. He was born May 16, 1930, in Astoria, to Joseph Weller Chamberlin and Dorothy Canfield Chamberlin.

He was a lifelong Oregon Duck, having graduated from the University of Oregon in 1950.

He married Joanne Hite in 1950 in Vancouver, Washington, and they were married for over 50 years.

Bob joined Westin Hotels (while it was still Western International Hotels) in 1964, working in many properties and positions in his 25 years with the company. He began as a sales manager at the Olympic Hotel in Seattle, was the director of sales for the Multnomah Hotel in Portland and the Antlers Plaza Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

n 1969, he was named as the first director of marketing for the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore. In 1972, he developed and opened the office as director of marketing for Westin Hotels, Europe.

Moving back to the U.S. in 1975, he served as the director of marketing for the East Coast, before returning to Seattle as the director of central reservations. In 1979, he and Joanne headed back overseas, where he was the director of marketing for the Chosun Hotel group being managed by Westin Hotels.

He ended his career with Westin back in the states as director of marketing at the Hotel Paso del Norte in El Paso, Texas.

Upon his retirement, Bob began volunteering at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, and for 20-plus years topped the list of hours volunteered each year.

After Joanne’s death in 2003, Bob married Marcella Stewart, another longtime Seaside resident. During their 12-year marriage, Bob and Marcella traveled extensively and volunteered together to help with the many cruise ships that visit Astoria. He was an immediately recognizable figure, as he traveled everywhere in his cowboy hat and boots.

He had a lifelong hobby of making candles and gifting them; if you were one of the many, many recipients, please light it in his memory.

He was preceded in death by Marcella in 2022; and his son, Tom Chamberlin, in 2023.

He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Carol Chamberlin Schnetter and Bryan Schnetter; Marcella’s children, Eleanora and Bob Capaul and Ray and Robin Rider; 13 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren; and his great friends, Ken and Cravalynn Biamont, Tim and Cindi Biamont, Mark Charleton, Linda Carlson and Elin and Andrew Whitten.