Robert Mahlon Chiles

Robert Mahlon Chiles, Sr. August 12, 1938 – July 8, 2017 Robert Mahlon Chiles, Sr., of New Bern died on July 8. He was born in Sanford, NC, on August 12, 1938, to George Glasgow Chiles, MD, and Mary McClure Gilmore Chiles. A graduate of Sanford High School and North Carolina State University, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the US Army and served two years on the Demilitarized Zone in Korea with the First Cavalry Division. At the Newport News Shipyard he was an engineer and made several sea-trial dives on Polaris submarines. In 1966 he and his wife Nancy Hagy Chiles moved to New Bern where he worked for Barbour Boat Works until he received his Professional Engineering License and opened his consulting engineering firm in 1972. He was a Deacon and an Elder at First Presbyterian Church, a member of the New Bern Rotary Club, the New Bern Historical Society, the New Bern Preservation Foundation, and the Eastern Carolina Yacht Club. He coached Sunday School League Baseball and worked to establish youth soccer leagues in the area. He is survived by his wife and children, Robert Mahlon Chiles, Jr., and his wife Amy; George Glasgow Chiles II and his wife Robin – all of New Bern; and Mary Hamilton Chiles of Huntersville; five grandsons – Ian Robert Chiles, Andrew McCoy Chiles, Thomas Ambrose Chiles, George Glasgow Chiles III, and Taylor Hughes Chiles; his sister Mary Chiles Ware of Brunswick, GA, and four nieces. Memorials may be directed to First Presbyterian Church, PO Box 1069, New Bern, North Carolina 28563. A Service of Witness to the Resurrection will be held at First Presbyterian Church on Tuesday, July 11, at 11AM followed by burial in the church’s Memorial Garden.