Robert Canfield joined the Marine Corps at age 18 in 1940, and served in combat in the Pacific with the Fifth Marines, FIRST Marine Division, earning a Silver Star for actions as a Sergeant in 1944. After the war he became a Christian, attending Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington, where he received an undergraduate degree in 1950. He then entered San Francisco Theological Seminary where he graduated in 1953 with his Masters of Divinity degree. While receiving his degree, he also worked with prisoners at San Quentin State Prison for two years. He was ordained a Presbyterian minister that same year and was commissioned a U.S. Naval Reserve chaplain in July 1953. He continued in military ministry including duty on three Naval ships and service in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars, until his retirement as a U.S. Navy commander in 1965. Later in life he earned a Doctor of Ministry degree at Colgate Rochester Divinity School in Rochester, New York. Also, after his retirement from the military, he pastored Mission Avenue Presbyterian Church in Spokane, Washington, followed by 10 years of practice as a marriage and family therapist in Spokane. Late in life he moved to Redmond, California to be closer to his children, and was pastor emeritus at Overlake Park Presbyterian Church until his death.