We first met Bob with Laura, Kelly and Trevor in late 1980's when the family came to England with Bob's work with Ford Motor Company.  Bob was eager to let me know that the English car I was driving, a Jaguar (or as Bob would say, Jagwaar) was soon to be American; Ford had bought the company.

When Bob and family returned to America in the early 90's we kept in contact and met at Niagara Falls in 1995.  Ever mindful of the English pallet, Bob had arranged to eat at an Olde English Wenching House where the beef was served by suitably clad serving maidens.  Ever thoughtful.

We kept in contact and Bob and Laura visited us some years later following which we arranged a winter break in New York.  Both our families were there along with my brother who lives in Boston.  We went out for a small after dinner drink without the ladies and it is at this point that the alpha male surfaced in Bob and my brother.  Both had travelled the globe through work and the stories started to unfold of who had drunk the best, worst, most, most expensive and in challenging circumstance.  I think in the end it was a score draw but Bob has some wonderful stories to share and was as alway great entertainment.

We are all very sad to learn of Bobs passing at a time when he should be reaping the rewards of his work and dedication to Ford and others.  

Our thoughts are with Laura, Trevor and Kelly.  Have one for me Bob.

Matt & Elaine 

I worked with Bob in the very early days at Ford doing calibration work.   I remember development trips to Denver for high altitude emissions testing and driveability development.

He loved to ski and weekends would be side trips to Vail.   One time back in Denver, Bob doesn’t show up at the Ford Emissions Lab.  Bob Carlson was Supervising and starting to ask questoins of “Where’s Bob”.   This is well before cells phones so we finally get a call in from Bob that he ended up out the night before, had a little too much to drink, never made it back to his room, and was somewhere in Denver but without transportation.   We told him we would send over a car to get him, but he was not sure where he was.   Told him to go to the nearest street corner and get us some street names – and then added that “the corner of Walk and Don’t Walk” was not an acceptable answer.  Fun times.   We got him back and Carlson never knew he was indeed missing in action.

We met Wynston and Trevor first, then Bob took over and Wynston became a therapy dog.  What a wonderful idea to help other people through their hardships.  
We certainly miss our discussions of UM football, Red Wing hockey, Lions (sol), also discussing our "Dog Novels".  Bob was always willing to help with some household issues, gave us ideas, person(s) to call, etc.  Bob made us laugh so hard doing his impersonation of a drunk airplane pilot (Foster Brooks) on a Dean Martin video.  
He is certainly missed and we'll always remember our friendship.  
Our hearts are with you, Laura, Kelly, Trevor (Mugsly)
XOXO