Charles Robert "Bob" Lovett, a retired Baltimore City Public Schools art teacher and a decorated World War II veteran, died of cancer Friday at his daughter's Anneslie home. The former Hampden resident was 90.
Born in Baltimore and raised in Hampden, he attended Robert Poole Junior High School and was a 1938 City College graduate. In 1932 at age 12, he began singing in the St. Thomas Aquinas Church choir. He sang until October — 78 years.
While at City College he sang in the glee club and performed in musical theater. He and other family members also put on musical shows in neighborhood halls and church basements.
He entered the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1938 and attended academic classes at the Johns Hopkins University. He was president of the Omega Alpha fraternity at MICA from 1939 to 1941 and won a first-place decor award at the school's dance, the Fete of Lights costume ball, for two years.
Family members said that while he was president of the fraternity, he was proud of having a jukebox installed in the school's lobby so the students could hold dances. He also attempted unsuccessfully to get the fraternity to vote on changing its bylaws so a Jewish student could be admitted.
"It was a defeat he found incomprehensible and dispiriting, and he considered resigning his post, but the friend urged him to stay in place and continue to try to change the bylaws," said his daughter, Eleanor Norine Schiller of Anneslie.
He graduated from MICA with a teacher's certificate in 1942. He received a bachelor of fine arts degree in 1949, also from MICA.
He worked briefly at the Glenn L. Martin aircraft factory in Middle River before joining the Army during World War II. He was a baker and longshoreman in a port battalion.
"In all the places he was posted, he carried a sketchbook with him at all times and would make time to go out into the community to meet local people and draw sketches of the local scenery," his daughter said.
He was stationed in a balloon hangar in Casablanca in North Africa from late 1942 to July 1943, when his unit landed at Sicily. At Villa Belmonte, he met his wife-to-be and her sisters on the first morning of the occupation while he was standing guard at the villa's gate.
He moved on to Anzio, where he was wounded by shrapnel. An offshore gun sent a shell into a wall where he was walking with four other servicemen. Two died in the incident.
"I heard the shell's whistle first and ducked," he said in a memoir. "I found myself on my hands and knees, asking, 'What am I doing? Did I drop something?' I couldn't see my wound … but my face was covered in blood."
When he was awarded a Purple Heart, he said, "I felt a little embarrassed receiving my medal when I saw other men with missing limbs."
While in Naples, Italy, he married Maria Concettina Grupposo. He learned Italian from an Army-issued phrase book and also asked his future mother-in-law for language help.
They wed at the Naples Cathedral on Oct. 20, 1945, with a few family members present. He was shipped home five days later, and she arrived in Baltimore after crossing the Atlantic on a war brides' ship nine months later.
At their 50th anniversary in 1995, the couple returned to Italy and re-exchanged their nuptial vows amid a large gathering of friends and family members.
"My parents sat on little stools before the altar, and the priest spoke," his daughter wrote in a 1996 Baltimore Sun story. "'This marriage has been a long journey of many years, and I am certain it was not without some hardships,' he said. 'Perhaps it would help the younger people here if you would share the secrets of your long marriage. What has been the glue? What has kept you together?' 'Respect,' my mother said after a little pause. 'A little love,' my father said.
"'Just a little?' the priest said. Everyone laughed."
Mr. Lovett bought a 34th Street home in Hampden in 1946 and lived there until he became sick in September. He filled its rooms with his sculptures and paintings, including a portrait of his wife that he painted early in their marriage.
He showed his work in art shows. In the 1940s, he had a studio with a friend, Louis Orndorff, in Bolton Hill.
Mr. Lovett taught at MICA from 1946 to 1952. He also taught at Gywnns Falls Junior High School from 1952 to 1970 and at Hampstead Hill Junior High School from 1970 to 1983 before retiring.
"He was a lifelong, devoted Catholic and a staunchly liberal, active Democrat, and he saw no contradiction between the two," his daughter said. "He believed in kindness and tolerance — that people should treat others as they wish to be treated. He cared deeply about civil rights, and thought society had a responsibility to take care of its poor and disadvantaged."
A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Hickory Avenue and 37th Street.
In addition to his daughter, survivors include a son, Robert P. Lovett of Bel Air; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. His wife of 61 years died in 2006.
