Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Recently, my wonderful, 93 year old Uncle Bob passed away quietly. We will miss him a lot! Uncle Bob was my uncle in a very convoluted way via my birthmother's family.
Uncle Bob sought out meeting Nigel and me when we lived in California--he had planned a visit to his nephew in Gilroy, just south of San Francisco, and wanted to meet us as well. We had a great time meeting him for the first time in Healdsburg, California (Sonoma Valley) with Michael and Elena (Michael is Uncle Bob's direct great nephew) as well as our neighbors, Michele and Marshal Mercer. He then came to our condo for dinner arriving late after getting a bit lost walking from his hotel nearby to our place. He moved to this hotel and decided to walk over as a surprise to us--fortunately, a very nice passerby helped him when he was lost and dropped him at our place.
Hearing Uncle Bob's stories of his fascinating and challenging life was always a treat. He was an intrepid traveller and was not able to attend our wedding because he was visiting South Africa for the "blooming of the proteas" with his long time travel companion, Doris.
Uncle Bob would escape Washington, DC in January and February to visit someplace warm. We saw him in January 2016 whilst he was in Key West, Florida, and we were living in Miami together with our friend, Steven, who was visiting that weekend from Singapore. We had just signed the contract to buy our house here in Kona so he was the first person to find out we were moving to Hawaii. He then visited us in Kona twice and we always had a fabulous time (especially at Gertrude's Jazz Bar)--"what happens in Kona, stays in Kona!".
I visited Uncle Bob in November when I was on the East Coast for business just when he was moving into an assisted living center. His niece, my Aunt Bobbi, and Doris' son, "Babo", had done an amazing job moving Bob's things from his old apartment to his new assisted living unit including hanging and placing a huge quantity of art works from Uncle Bob's amazing collection. Bobbi has looked after Uncle Bob amazingly for years and especially during the last 6 months when he needed the most help.
Last night, Nigel and I toasted Uncle Bob and said our farewells with an "Uncle Bob" (Tito's vodka on ice with a splash of water)! We love you and miss you and will always remember you, Uncle Bob!