Obituary of Robert Bob Manns

ROBERT MANNS, 85 of Camden, passed away from natural causes on April 10, 2013. He was born in Detroit, the son of the late Harold G. Brown and Ruby E. (Taylor) Brown. He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Edith Kelley Manns; his brother Wade R. Brown (Catherine) of Naples, FL and his nephews, Kenneth (Christine) of Brookfield, WI, Norman (Rosalie) of Tomball, TX, Taylor (Lauren) of Little Rock, AR and their families. Robert attended Detroit public schools and completed his high school education at Howe Military School in Indiana. He then attended Highland Park Junior College and Wayne State University where he was introduced to the art of writing plays. Robert spent six years in New York where he came to the attention of director Alan Schneider who facilitated the production of his first plays in Westport, Connecticut. He then tried his hand at a small business in Clearwater, Florida only to return to the arts with a move to Atlanta in 1964 where he taught poetry writing at Emory University and had plays produced at the Callenwalde Arts Center and other theatres in Atlanta. As the result of his growing interest in environmental concerns, he became the Southeast Representative for the National Audubon Society. Forming his own business in 1984, he pioneered the development of advanced optics for wildlife observers. He continued his writing with articles in birding magazines and two plays on Abraham Lincoln. It is in Atlanta that he first met his wife. In 1999 he moved to Camden, Maine where he continued to write many plays as a member of The Dramatists Guild Inc. and had many more plays produced in New York City and in Maine. He wrote dozens of plays, both one-acts and full-length plays. Some of his early plays were about early Greek figures while some of his later works covered events and issues in the lives of historic Americans such as George Washington, John Adams, Aaron Burr, Roger Williams, James Smithson and Abraham Lincoln. A more complete description of his accomplishments may be found at www.robertmanns.com. Those caring to may make contributions in his memory to the Heartwood Theater, PO Box 1115, Damariscotta, ME 04543, the Maine Audubon Society, 20 Gilsland Farm Road, Falmouth, ME 04105 or the Georgia Ornithological Society, PO Box 122, Culloden, GA 31016.