Robert “Bob” Caggige, a former Bellows Free Academy business teacher, passed away on Nov. 1, 2022. According to New Hampshire News’s Robert Caggige tribute, before coming to BFA, Caggige served in the United States Army Reserve. While enlisted, Caggige graduated from the American International College. Caggige received a Bachelor of Science in Finance.  After many years of holding a job in the business world, Caggige decided to become a teacher at BFA, where he eventually met his wife, Ruth.

During Caggige’s time at BFA, he not only inspired staff members, but his kindness left an everlasting effect on the BFA community.

Mary Brouillette, a business teacher at BFA, had Caggige as a teacher when attending high school. “I always looked up to him because once I decided to become a business teacher, I remembered all the stuff that he used to do in class. He used to show motivational videos sometimes that weren’t accounting, but it also showed us how to be motivated in whatever we are doing,” Brouillete said.

Brouillete said that when she started teaching at BFA, she used Caggige’s accounting and golf books. “It’s kind of cool because he left me some of that stuff here so that I can use it,” Brouillette said.

Brouillette and Caggige continued to talk outside of school. “He was always a great influence on me, but a lot of people around him too,” Brouillette said. 

Karla Kane, a math teacher at BFA and Program Leader of the math department, reminisced about Caggige’s character. “Bob was one of the most genuine, kind, patient, humble and wonderful people I have ever known,” Kane said. “He cared deeply about his students, athletes and colleagues at BFA and made a positive impact on all who knew him.”

Kane said that people like Caggige are the ones that create a sense of family within the BFA community.

Brouillette isn’t the only former student of Caggige’s that now teaches at BFA. Nate Archambault, an English teacher, had Caggige as a teacher in a typing class. “I learned to type in his class,” Archambault said. Archambault not only had Caggige as a teacher but also as a golf coach. 

“I just remember him as very dedicated to the school. He cared a lot about the people here. He and his wife Ruth were really awesome people,” Archambault said. 

When The Mercury sat down with Jeff Moulton, a social studies teacher at BFA, and asked how he would describe Caggige’s personality, Moulton said, “[He was] quite confident, [had a] sense of humor, a very keen sense of humor. Everything from just playful sarcasm to a dry sense of humor and wit. But also the ability to laugh at himself.”

A fond and funny memory of Moulton’s is that Caggige resembled Dwight Evans due to his mustache. “My parents would always call him Dwight Evans because he had darker hair and [a] mustache like the Magnum PI look. He looked a lot like Dwight Evans, so I remember always looking at him [like] Dwight Evans,” Moulton said.

Caggige’s impact on the BFA community will be remembered.

“He was such a good guy who cared about the school,” Archambault said.