I knew Bobby during the years when we were both trying to figure out who we were. In this, I think he was a little further along than I was. During the two years in the late sixties when we were regular associates and friends, Bobby was already working with the idea that he could live an authentic life, without pretense, close to the ground. Reading his brief bio in the Estes Park News obituaries, I gather that he carried out his life plan successfully. I applaud him.
It seems to me that Bobby hated "black boxes"; that is, he wanted to be able to understand, make, and repair every implement, article, or device he needed or used. He was a very clever and intelligent young man, and was on his way to doing this when I knew him.
Bobby loved music, and used it, I think, to fuel his imagination in discovering what his life was to be about. The more elemental and iconoclastic the music was, the better he liked it. Consequently, he was a big Johnny Winter fan, and loved most blues music, white, black, or albino. I don't believe he ever played a Monkees record.
Bobby was also very strong willed. Some might have said stubborn and mule-headed, and did at times. I would prefer to say that he was about as self-directed an individual as I have ever known, and in this, furnished a sturdy example to a young guy like me, who at the time was being blown hither and thither by the variable winds of post-adolescence.
Some of the things that Bobby, Les, I, and others of our group did during those brief years long ago would probably not pass muster if mentioned here. We were each, to some extent, outlaws. In Bobby's case, his outlawry, such as it was, originated from his very deep and essential belief in himself, to the exclusion of any external rules. I should also say that Bobby never fingered anything that wasn't his, and was tender, non-violent, and protective, even in impetuous youth. I am sure these qualities emerged fully as his life progressed.
I am saddened to hear of Bobby's passing, but glad also, in that I am sure he accomplished his mission here on earth.