According to Jude, another of Bob's daughters (edited):  "I'm so sorry to leave you all wondering about this sad news.

We are 3 broken adult children over here trying to...survive and take care of my dads life and follow his wishes as best we can.

Dad died of a massive heart attack around 6:40 AM on 2/12/15.  The police and ambulance arrived within minutes of him calling 911 and they were not able to revive him.

I am here (Dayton) from Washington with my brother and sister from Illinois.  We turned this house upside down looking for some sort of pre arranged funeral arrangements for him.  That we had all heard different  versions of over the years but no one really knew for sure.  His sister was adamant that he had made such arrangements because she remembers him trying to convince her to do it as well.

His bleak wishes of no funeral, wake or showing or service of any kind, plain wooden box in an unmarked grave - was interpreted and acted out as follows by his grieving children and beloved sister.

We got him a beautiful wooden casket, a funeral plot right next to his mother and father, my grandparents.  He lays next to his father.  We got him a military headstone as his time in the service was something he was  very proud of.  My brother will get a flag in his honor.  There was no funeral – but I did go the funeral home to say goodbye to him.  I got to see him and touch his hands and face and kiss him goodbye.

I put pictures and mementos in his casket and notes in his pocket.

I went to his graveside with roses to see that he was laid to rest properly and with dignity.  He’s in a beautiful spot.  I'm pretty sure he thinks we did good. 

We are still working on the obituary.

We have written and lost it twice now because we are doing it on my phone!

We are not the tech savvy adults you’d think Bob’s kids would've grown up to be.  You can only IMAGINE how lost we are.  its like being lost on the Star Trek Enterprise over here..

Please feel free to pass this email along to friends or email lists or however you feel best about breaking the news to his friends. 

WA8BOT

over and out........"

 

Here are couple of shots of Bob when he was in the service

 

 

 

We think this is an old set of computers taken when Bob was in the Philippines...

 

Jude says: "The wedding picture is my mom and dad."