Louise Dakin: 'For More Than 50 Years She Waited for Sgt. Robert Dakin to Come Home'

Tribute via Joyce Funeral Home:

WALTHAM, MA - Paul Harvey used to end every broadcast with . . . “And now you know . . . the rest of the story . . .”

Louise Dakin was 93 when she died back in March of 2002. For more than fifty of those years she held out hope that her Bobby, a soldier missing in action since December of 1950, would come home to Waltham . . . one way or the other . . . and they would then be re-united.

It took 65 years, exactly to the day, since 22 year old Bobby Dakin went missing that his mortal remains, and hers, were reunited forever in the soil of the city that they both loved and that they both called home.

In a moving eulogy during the service for United States Army Sergeant Robert C. Dakin, Lorne MacArthur, classmate, friend and fellow athlete described Bob Dakin as “just a wonderful boy . . . very kind . . . a terrific athlete who was one of the best the city ever produced . . . and a kid who really loved his mother.”

Earlier today along the banks of the Charles River at Mount Feake Cemetery an urn containing the body of Louise was very gently laid at the head end of the casket containing the body of her only son . . . and then . . . the vault holding them both was sealed forever.

Sometimes the most poignant moments of our lives come long after we’re gone. But the good news is that somewhere, somehow, we’re never forgotten.

The warmth, love, affection, respect and tenderness that Waltham and its citizens paid to her Bobby was something that would have made Louise proud . . . and would have given her peace.

In Louise’s name, “thank you.”

This is the third of three articles posted about Sgt. Robert Dakin, whose remains were returned to his hometown this weekend with honors.

Find the other articles here.

Photo courtesy Peter Lobo