Generous, funny, kind-hearted, loving ~ these are just a few of the words that come to mind when we think of Bob Wright.
Born October 2nd 1947, Bob was the third child in what eventually became a family with 7 children. Along with his siblings, Bob attended his beloved Mountain Empire for most of his schooling. The family was so large and the school was so small, that there were times that he was in class with his younger sister Patty. People often asked if they were twins! His family lived in the small town of Potrero and he loved it there so much that he chose it as his final resting place.
In March of 1965, he met Ann at Picnic Lake Park. Ann’s parents didn’t think much of Bob at the start since he had a car that only drove in reverse and was a Catholic. Ann’s Mormon parents were very strict. But, love found its way and on October 22nd, 1966 they were married.
Shortly after marriage, Bob enlisted in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and was based in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He and Ann lived there for 2 years until he was honorably discharged. A few years later, his late brother, Bill, joined the Armed Forces and was stationed in Hawaii. Bob could never get over his brother’s luck – he got North Dakota while Bill got stationed in Hawaii.
On June 9th, 1969 their first child, Gregory Todd was born. Bob was a proud new dad and was working his way up the ladder at National Steel and Ship Building Company where he eventually became a Systems Analyst. A few years later, on Thanksgiving Day in 1972, their second child, Amy Marie, was born. Although Bob said in the beginning that he wanted two sons, as the children grew he couldn’t be happier to have one son and one daughter. He called Greg a “blessing” and Amy “his angel on earth”.
Ann recalls that she would put Amy in her nicest dress and stockings and then Bob would take her outside to water the trees. Amy came back in with mud from head to toe! When Ann would ask what they were doing, Amy would always say, “Dad says if we water the pine trees, their branches will go up in the air and that is how we know they are smiling.” Ann would just laugh and get Amy ready all over again.
No matter what career, Bob always made time for his kids. He coached every one of Greg’s Little League teams – 7 years of coaching the Pine Valley boys. Ann would keep score, Greg would pitch, Bob would coach and Amy, well, she would eat everything they sold at snack bar. Bob really loved being a coach and he was so gracious. One time, there was a boy named Dick. Dick was mentally challenged so he could not play baseball, but he came to every little league game and brought a little radio to listen to the Padres at the same time. One day Bob asked Dick if he wanted to be the bat boy and travel with the team. Dick was so excited and Bob even bought him a pair of headphones so he could listen to the Padres and help the team at the same time. The boys all loved Dick because Bob did. When this story was remembered by Greg, we were all wondering how he remembered that and he said, “How can you ever forget what Dad did for Dick.” This was the kind of man that Bob was. He wanted to include everyone!
Greg also remembers that each time one of the boys hit a homerun that Bob would take them all to Swensen’s in Pine Valley for an ice cream. Greg says, thanks to Glennie LaRocque, we got lots of ice cream! He also recalls the times that Bob would say, “Let’s skip practice and go fishing.” So, all of the boys would grab their fishing gear and jump in the back of the Datsun truck and go to Lake Morena fishing. What a character Bob was!
Bob and Amy loved horses! Over the years Amy would be in Gymkanas and Bob would make sure to get her there with the horse trailer and gear. Every so often he would even enter an event. Pick up and ride with one of his great friends, Larry Clifford, was always a crowd pleaser. Two grown men having the time of their lives. Bob always laughed because the Thing family would always enter too and beat him and Larry every time. They were proud of their 2nd place ribbons though! Bob and Amy would also go to horse camp every year in Cuyamaca and ride on the trails, talk and enjoy nature. This was truly daddy time for her.
Throughout the kids high school years, Ann and Bob’s house was always full! Greg nor Amy remember a time when someone else didn’t live there. It was always a welcoming place for all of the kids to come and eat and drink whatever they wanted. Amy remembers coming home on quite a few occasions when her friends would be there hanging out with her parents. They would say, “Hey, Amy” and then go back to talking to Ann and Bob. Through girlfriends, boyfriends and best friends, it was always a busy home and Ann and Bob took it all in stride. They were kind to everyone and all of the kids always loved that the house that fully stocked with food! There were a countless number of neighborhood kids ate them out of house and home and Ann and Bob wouldn’t have it any other way.
His beloved miniature sheltie dog, Charlie, also took part in the eating. Bob adopted Charlie from his brother because his nephew Brent always tried to ride her like a horse when he was just a toddler. But, dog food was never good enough for Charlie. Bob fed her hot dogs, every meal, every day. Charlie was the happiest and fattest dog in the valley!
Bob was always a very busy man. While maintaining his job at National Steel, he and Ann opened and ran a feed store in Pine Valley. The feed store is probably one of the fondest memories for some of the people attending today. Bob gave every boy in town a job “bucking hay”. They drove down to the Imperial Valley loaded and drove back to Pine Valley and unloaded. That is what Bob called “our picnics”. Then, the boys would drive house-to-house in the green Ranchero delivering hay to customers. When the stack of hay was huge behind the store – over a story tall – Bob would take every tarp and make a huge pile on the ground then all of the kids would jump from the top onto the tarps. Now that Greg and Amy are older, they often wonder how they ever made it through those days without more broken bones! But, boy, was it fun for them.
Bob eventually went to work for his brother Bill as Vice President of Wright Oil Company. During this time he, some of his brothers, friends and the neighborhood kids played in a men’s traveling softball league. You would think this was for recreation – oh no! They were serious and the family even recalls a time or two where Uncle Bill would get thrown out of the game for yelling at the umpire. It was a great time for the men and they always had great memories! And, the stories of the game always became much bigger in the re-telling.
Bob and Ann’s kids eventually moved out, Greg went to work for Wright Oil and Amy went off to college. Then, Bob had decided to take a whole new path and purchase his great-grandfather’s land in the desert. From there he used the sand to help build the Seeley Prison and do some farming. He was always such a proud man and so supportive of his children. Amy recalls that even when she was just a cheerleading coach and teacher at Mountain Empire that he would come out and watch every Friday night home football game. After the game, he would call in the score to the Prep Pigskin Report just so Mountain Empire could maybe get their score run across the bottom of the screen. He was so proud of his alma mater and children, no matter where life took them.
In January of 1998, his first grandchild, Annika, was born. Almost exactly three years later, his second granddaughter, Sydney, then Amy and Brian had two children, Colby and Sri. Bob and Ann became Bob and Nana because Bob always said he wasn’t old enough to be called grandpa. They were there for the births of each grandchild and love them dearly. Not to mention, spoil them rotten!
Christmas was always a joyful time with mounds of presents. Last Christmas Amy’s son, Colby, was asking for a gift. Amy said, “Well, you are going to have to ask Santa or Nana and Bob.” To which Colby replied, “Oh, I am definitely going to ask Nana and Bob because then I know I am going to get it!” The grandkids always made their list for Nana and Bob and one for Santa. Nana and Bob always got a much longer list! And, just like magic, everything they asked for was under the tree on Christmas Day.
The grandkids just love their Nana and Bob. Bob collected prized possessions just for the grandkids. Annika got a 1965 Corvette Stingray, Sydney a 1955 Chevrolet car, Colby a 1959 4-wheel drive Chevy Apache pick up and Sri a 2000 Harley motorcycle.
And, his great-grandfather’s land in the desert was his most proud investment. Bob, Nana, the kids, grandkids and 6 other families would spend many occasions down camping on the land. On Thanksgiving they would fry turkeys and on Easter Nana and Bob would bring down about 300 plastic eggs stuffed with quarters and they hid them all to have a major Easter Egg Hunt. The kids would always run around like crazy and then count up their winnings. They really made all of the holidays special. Every weekend that the kids camped at the desert, Nana and Bob would come down and Bob would always take the grandkids “snake hunting”. They would grab shovels and load up in the Polaris. Honestly, the kids never heard of a snake sighting, but they did come back with lots of desert treasures and had a great time! After that, Bob would take them to the little market so they could each pick a candy. He would also take Amy’s quad out to go and have a minute with his dog, Charlie, who is resting peacefully under a tree at the corner of the property.
Bob was the proudest grandpa (though don’t ever tell him that we called him that). He always said how beautiful and smart Annika was. And a great soccer player. How Sydney is so vivacious, smart and beautiful even winning Little Miss Alpine. Colby was his little athlete who he was always so proud to see hustle on and off the football and baseball fields. And his little Sri that was so beautiful, quite the artist and so articulate for her age. Bob and Nana attended Tee ball, flag football, pageants, school events and soccer to see the kids. Bob would always be yelling the loudest on the sideline! He was so proud of how great of dads and coaches Greg and Brian were, how proud he was of Amy’s career and family and what a great daughter-in-law he had in Becky.
When we asked each of the grandkids to write their favorite thing about Bob, they said:
Annika says, “The thing I most remembers about Bob is that he would always want to go on adventures where ever we were. We would always do something fun when he was around”
Sydney says, “The thing I most remember about Bob is that we would always go fishing at Cuyamaca Lake and after we went fishing he would get us ice cream and fill us up with goodies. We would have a good time when he was always around. He has been there for me in any event I do. Bob was always an adventurous grandpa!”
Colby says, “I loved when Bob took us snake hunting in the desert. And, the tons of presents he had for us on Christmas Day!”
Sri says, “I most remember about Bob that he would help me feed his fish. He also got us lots of presents!”
In the end, Bob found peace with his career, family and God. When times were tough his brother, Jim, gave him a job as a Regional Sales Manager and he was so grateful. He loved visiting with his brothers and sisters who helped tremendously at the end when Bob needed it most. Bob took his mother, Betty, to his cherished church every Sunday in Campo where he was proud to sing in the choir and joined the Knights of Columbus. He loved his little church and he was so grateful for Deacon Clarke who came to visit during his bed-ridden time.
Bob will truly be missed as a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, parishioner, coach and friend. We were all blessed to have known him. The family wants to say “thank you” to all of those present today and all of those who are here in spirit. Bob was a great man and he will be deeply missed.
No comments:
Post a Comment