Uncle Bob

My Uncle Bob passed away last Saturday morning, April 26. 

Uncle Bob was an endlessly generous, tolerant, warm, loving part of our lives. 

No matter how many foster dogs we brought his way on summer weekends, Uncle Bob and my Aunt Nancy welcomed us and the foster dogs too. 

Uncle Bob was an amazing host and loved nothing more than to share his good nature and enjoyment of life with his family and guests.

All my memories of Uncle Bob, even the earliest ones, are of him offering me something to drink, telling a funny anecdote about his travels, bringing us on fun family trips. 

All my memories of Uncle Bob are of his generosity and warmth. 





Uncle Bob seemed to always be smiling, always relaxed and cheerful and vaguely bemused, in a way that was infectious. 

When I was in my pre-teens, Aunt Nancy and Uncle Bob used to invite us to stay with them in their house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. One day when I was going out in the ocean on my boogie board, there was a powerful undertow and I got pulled out too far. 

Because I was a dippy pre-teen and a bit embarrassed about my situation, all I could do was smile shyly at the lifeguards as I got pulled further and further out, instead of indicating in any kind of effective way that I was in trouble. 

Somehow Uncle Bob managed to swim out and pull me back in to safety. 

Uncle Bob and I always enjoyed remembering that story together.

Uncle Bob really knew something about how to live, how to enjoy each moment, how to give abundantly and impart his own relaxed vitality to others.

I will miss him deeply.