This year, Valentine's Day was a sad one for the field of corrections.

On February 14th officers, officials and religious leaders gathered in the State of Washington to mourn the loss of Reverend Robert C. Lynn.

Lynn, who served as a chaplain in corrections since 1967, passed away unexpectedly while on vacation in Hawaii with his wife and family friends.

Known by friends, chaplains, and inmates alike as an open-minded and caring individual, Lynn spent years creating and implementing religious programs and policies for offenders of all faiths. According to Chaplain Daniel Williams, who worked with Lynn for over 20 years, the chaplain had a lifestyle that demonstrated his own beliefs.

“[Lynn] had an entire life that you respected,” Williams remembers. “He was just a good person that was well-liked. He worked with people of all religions; Muslim, Christian, Mormon, and Buddhist among others. He cared so much about people and he was willing to dedicate a lot of his time to do good things.”

Born in Colorado and raised in the state of Washington, Lynn began his work as a chaplain after graduating from the University of Oregon. Ordained by the Disciples of Christ Christian Church shortly after his graduation, Lynn attend the Lexington Theological Seminary in Kentucky. His passion for religion took him all over the country, and he even spent years as a chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserves.

“He was more than just a chaplain,” Williams says. “He was a mentor and a friend. His heart was large – and he was well loved for it. We knew he would always listen if we needed an ear, whether it was a chaplain or an offender. He always responded in a way that brought hope and healing.”

According to Williams, and many of those who knew and worked with Lynn, he always had people of other religions in mind. All of the programs and practices he was dedicated to protected the religious rights of offenders from any walk of life.
 
“He was very accepting of people that came from all religions, from any background,” Williams recalls. “He was confident of his own faith and religious understanding, but he was open to anybody of any religion or faith. At his memorial service, one of the people that spoke was a Wiccan priest and one person was a Jewish advisor. He was just that accepting of every religion.”

In 1983, Lynn accepted a position at the Washington State Department of Corrections as the Religious Program Manager. Responsible for all of the religious programming in correctional facilities across the state, Lynn began to develop guidelines and practices that benefited all religions.

“One of the things that [Lynn] did that was really unique was that he developed the Handbook of Religious Beliefs and Practices,” Williams says. “With the help of myself and a number of other experts, it outlined different practices that are faced in the corrections system. That handbook has been developed by about every state in the country; many states have taken that guide and adapted it for their own system. Just about everyone in corrections has used that handbook in one way or another.”

Lynn was also a leader in other ways and served as the president of the northwest division of the American Correctional Chaplain's Association. At the time of his death, he was also a pastor for a church in Tacoma, Washington.

According to Williams, Lynn made an impression wherever he served. Chaplains and leaders of other faiths have contacted him since Lynn's passing to express their gratitude for his dedication, work, and unwavering faith in religion.

“I've been contacted by people all over the country. One person that contacted me was a religious programmer from Maryland who had loved working with [Lynn]. Another program manager from Kansas called to say that he helped her tremendously when she first started out. He was constantly telling people to keep laughing, and not to take life too seriously,” Williams says.

But Lynn did more than inspire others; he demonstrated how big his heart was in many ways. For example, Lynn and his wife opened their home to those less fortunate than themselves up until his passing.

“He did a lot for everyone he came in contact with,” Williams says. “Even to the point where a number of times, people who were having trouble would move in with the Lynns'. Recently, there was a young lady who just didn't have anywhere to go. They brought her into their home and treated her like a daughter. It takes a very big heart to do that at 76 years-old.”

Lynn is survived by his wife, Lenore, and their three children. He is also survived by seven grandchildren, his sister Shirley, as well as several nieces and nephews. As corrections, and his family members, mourn the passing of Lynn, Williams continues to remember him as an inspiration to all of those in the field of religious programming.

“He was a wonderful guy, and we're all going to miss him,” says Williams. “He's left his imprint on a lot of lives and on corrections as a whole. We're going to see his imprint and influence on a lot of things that take place in the future of religious programming as well.”