Robert G. Gaston

9/17/1950--4/8/2026

Robert Gabrielle Gaston was born at Cape Cod Hospital in 1950 and spent his childhood living on Main St in Orleans. His parents, Peter and Dorothy Gaston, owned the Orleans Center Motel, famous for being painted pink. Robert lived there with his parents, his uncle Bill Gaston, and their monkey Pepe (who loved to splash guests in the pool). Santander bank sits on the site of the motel now, where a maple tree that Uncle Bill planted on the day Robert was born, still grows. As a child, Robert was "little Bobby Gaston", notorious in the shops along Main Street in Orleans.He was a regular at Livingstone's Drugstore, where he would sit on a stack of Life magazines, sneaking a free peek at the comic books.

Robert's dad, Peter, was a shipbuilder from Glasgow, Scotland, who came to the U.S. during the 2nd World War to build Liberty Ships. His mother, Dorothy Gabrielle, from Cambridge MA, worked in a torpedo factory during that same war. She was descended from one of Lafayette's troops. Robert's dad's French roots reached back to Gaston Duc d'Orleans, a Huguenot relative of Louis XIII.

Robert attended Joan of Arc elementary school and graduated from Orleans High School, with many friends. His youthful joys included driving on the ocean beaches in Truro with friends, in one of their dad's cars, at age 12 or 13, designing and racing a motorized go-cart that got away, egging the Mayo duck Farm on Halloween (when his friends got caught and he didn't, he turned himself in) and being rolled down Main Street by his uncle in a wheelbarrow. His friends from those days included Jack Joy, Robbie Hatch, Mike Harris, as well as countless other friendly acquaintances, who he happened upon in all manner of places, countries, and situations.

He loved people and travelling. He also was a surfing enthusiast. He was the first kid among his peers who had a surf board, which he kindly lent out to whoever was with him. He loved scuba diving, kayaking, sailing, and camping. He fished for cod, bluefish, striped bass and flounder. He also scalloped from his faithful workboat, built at the high school, and moved to town-landings on a trailer salvaged from a boatyard fire. Poaching oysters and lobsters and discovering secret ponds around the Cape on obscure fire roads, to go swimming with friends, were also favorite pastimes.

During the Disco years, he excelled at his own version of the 'Hustle' at 'The Backroom' in Provincetown, with his then wife, Pia Mackenzie. He married Pia in 1977 and to their delight, their son, Alexander, was born in 1986. Though they divorced in 1990, Robert and Pia remained close friends. Robert (and his mother Dot) also remained close to Pia's family, including Bruce & Dorothy MacKenzie, Lina and Ginny Ravizza, Ian and Eiric MacKenzie, as well as all their children.

At the Lighthouse Charter School, Robert and Alex built a Dobsonian telescope as a school project. Robert loved stargazing and showing his long-time girlfriend and surviving partner, Anne Flash, the rings of Saturn and Jupiter. Anne and Robert met in the International aisle at Stop & Shop in 1999. They were still together when he died on April 8, 2026, with her at his side.

Anne's family, including her mother, Joan Flash Davis, and stepfather, Dave Davis, as well as her siblings Pamela Flash, David Flash, mates Larry Prinds and Elaine Orr, nieces Zoe, Willa and Claire all became Robert's family as well. Dave Davis's character and interests were a strong influence on both Robert and Alex. In tribute, Robert rebuilt the Osprey platform that Dave had originally installed on a pole off the dock at Wychmere Harbor 25 years earlier. There is a happy Osprey family living there today of which Robert took some beautiful photographs.

Robert was a scavenger and forager who tended to accumulate boats of various types and sizes, especially when they were free, from a wooden cat boat to a 32 foot racing cruiser on which he taught himself to sail in Provincetown Harbor. Several boats remain behind his house in Harwich today. His garages tended to be filled with bits & pieces from construction jobs, yard sales and dump-picking, that he deemed might be "useful someday". Robert was talented at fixing anything mechanical, from cars and motorcycles, to boats and other marine equipment. He was also an enthusiastic gardner and lover of flowers and fruit trees. He had many examples of heirloom irises, as well as a peach tree, a fig tree and a weeping cherry in his yard. He took beautiful photos of flowers as well as land-and seascapes on his various jaunts up and down the coast.

Robert worked as a construction worker, fisherman, and realtor, among other occupations. His main business was interior design: selling and installing shades, drapes, carpets, tile and vinyl floors all over Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. For several years he had a shop, "Cape Interiors", on Rte 6A in Orleans, opposite what is now Ace Hardware.

In his spare time, he loved listening to music and his tastes were broad. He also loved all sorts of visual art and modern dance. He had a soft spot for female painters, which Pia and Anne both were and are today. He loved art museums and went to many, both here and abroad. Paris was his favorite city to spend time in when he was younger, and luckily Pia spoke fluent French!

Of all these talents and joys though, Robert's real genius was the gift of gab. He would strike up conversations with strangers and friends in every possible situation. Many of those strangers became lifelong friends.

From bus trips to Boston, to airports, grocery stores (where he met Anne), boat docks, woods, parking lots, gallery openings, movies, to flea markets, town dumps, and simply intersections, Robert would start chatting with anybody. He never worried about how much time was passing or who needed to go where, when. He focused on each person and they often discovered common ground, to his and often their delIght. In any case, being late somewhere never worried him much. Island Time was more his mode, on Cape Cod or anywhere else he happened to be.

Robert will be memorialized on May 30th at The Church of the Holy Spirit, at 11 a.m. There will be a reception following, in the parish hall.