Robert Gadbois, 88; piloted Navy Hellcat in WWII

His background as a fighter pilot in World War II, a Rhode Island state trooper, a Boy Scout leader, and 63 years of fatherhood back that description.

“He treated me like a boy, and I was better for it,’’ said his daughter, Millie Gadbois, an agricultural economist in Cairo. “He was extraordinary. . . . We were always going to see the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins.’’

Mr. Gadbois, author of a 2005 book chronicling his time as a fighter pilot, died Sept. 23 of a foot infection at Falmouth Hospital, in the town where he lived. He was 88.

Growing up through the Great Depression in Providence, the man known to friends as Gabby did not let the economy stifle his adventurous attitude.

“Even though he was quite poor, he did everything, through the Boy Scouts,’’ said his daughter, noting that his love of the outdoors - swimming, camping, and hiking - lasted into his 80s.

After he graduated in 1939 from Central High School in Providence, Mr. Gadbois enrolled in Rhode Island State College (now the University of Rhode Island).

After three years pursuing an engineering degree, he realized he would have to work to finance his final year. And then Pearl Harbor was attacked in December 1941.

“He decided he wanted to be an aviator . . . and if you’re drafted, you can’t choose what you want to do,’’ his daughter said.

So he enlisted as a Navy pilot in early 1942, training alongside Red Sox stars Ted Williams and Johnny Pesky, family said.

For the next three years, Mr. Gadbois fought in the skies over Okinawa, Japan, in an F6F Hellcat, earning two Distinguished Flying Crosses for heroism.

In 1945, a kamikaze struck his aircraft carrier, the USS Randolph, killing 27. Although Mr. Gadbois was uninjured, he was sent home, where he stayed until the war ended.

About a year later in 1946, Mr. Gadbois married Mary (Rochford) of Providence, whom he had met before the war, in Daytona Beach, Fla. The couple lived there for a year. They raised two children.

In 1947, Mr. Gadbois moved back to New England, serving for the next 10 years for the Rhode Island State Police.

In 1957, he returned to his boyhood roots and became a Boy Scouts of America executive, stationed in Providence, New London, Conn., and Boston for the next eight years.

During that time, he also headed two Boy Scout camps, Camp Adams Pond in New Hampshire and Camp Waukenau in Connecticut, and led many Scout outings.

Frank Sullivan of Jamestown, R.I., was so impressed with the hike he took with Mr. Gadbois in the late 1950s that he signed his online memorial guestbook.

“We basically got to know him as a very adventurous leader,’’ he said in a telephone interview, reflecting on the one time he met him at age 14. “It was a very rugged trip . . . he challenged us.’’

In 1965, Mr. Gadbois became a manager with Allied Van Lines, a transportation agency based in Boston, his daughter said.

While working there, he lived in Natick, until he moved in 1977 to Falmouth.

In 1980, he became an executive at Iron Mountain, a Boston storage company, where he worked until his retirement in 2004.

A year later, Mr. Gadbois finished his book, the product of more than 15 years of work: “Hellcat Tales: A US Navy Fighter Pilot in World War II,’’ a 210-page tome about his wartime experience.

“It was in his mind for a long time, but he started in the late ’80s. . . . He did years and years of research on it,’’ his daughter said. “He was an excellent writer, and he had a story to tell.’’

In his later years, Mr. Gadbois stayed active, taking several whitewater rafting trips after his 80th birthday, family said.

His wife died in 2008. Their son, John, died of an illness in 1991. In addition to his daughter, Mr. Gadbois leaves two siblings, Rita Simonton of Huntington Beach, Calif., and Richard of Cumberland, R.I.

Services have been held.