In Loving Memory

Robin Balch Prescott, 94, of Miami FL, New York City NY, and Lovell ME, died on 27 November 2021 of complications from heart disease. She was the daughter of Thomas Vickroy Balch and Almeda Trout Balch of Shaker Heights, OH and Vero Beach, FL. Robin spent her childhood years in Shaker Heights where, at the age of 14, she met her true love, John Sherwin Prescott Jr. They married shortly after college and spent their honeymoon in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Over the years they continued to return to New England, bringing their four children mountain climbing during summer vacations. 

Robin had a huge curiosity about the world. She was an early feminist and always worked outside the home. She earned a PhD while her children were young and worked in the field of speech science and audiology as a speech therapist, a clinical manager at a children’s hospital, and as a college professor. In the 1970s she was an early advocate of Cued Speech (an alternative to American Sign Language) and contributed to research and development in the field. In her 80s, she made one final contribution, offering some original ideas for the expansion of cued hand signs. She called the project Experimental Cueing.

In 1983, Robin and John bought an old farmhouse on Kezar Lake in Lovell, Maine, which became the gathering place for family and friends over the next almost 40 years. Both Robin and John were interested in environmental protection and became active members of the Greater Lovell Land Trust. Eventually, Robin put their Lovell property into a conservation easement, protecting it from future development and keeping it as a natural habitat for wildlife. 

Robin also loved music. Throughout her life she played the recorder, and after retirement, she advanced her skills, participating and performing in early Renaissance music groups in New York City.

In the final years of her life, as her mind turned more and more to contemplating her childhood and adolescence, Robin often talked about her memories of Aloha Camp in Fairlee, VT. Of all her education and summer experiences (including graduating valedictorian from Laurel School in Cleveland, graduating from Vassar College, working as a teacher one summer on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico, obtaining a master’s degree from Boston University and a PhD from Wayne State University in Detroit), she said that being a camper at Aloha was the most formative and enriching experience of her life.

Robin was predeceased by her son Jake (1955–2002) and her husband John (1927–2008). She is survived by her three living children: Ann (husband Peter Heinz), Lyle, and Robert (wife Duff Pacifico), and seven grandchildren: Gabriel Moreno, Camille Moreno, Andre Prescott, Holly Heinz, Ana Prescott, Emily Rose, and John Prescott.  She is also survived by her two brothers, John Balch (wife Rita Breath) and Tom Balch, as well as several nieces and nephews.

A private memorial gathering is being planned for Summer 2022. Donations in her name can be made to the Aloha Foundation (alohafoundation.org/donate or 802-333-3400) or The Greater Lovell Land Trust (gllt.org/donate-here or 207-925-1056). Memories and condolences are welcome at RememberingRobinBalchPrescott.com or mailed to Ann Prescott, P.O. Box 60, Lovell, ME 04051.