The world has lost one of the most amazing men who ever lived, and our family has lost a marvelous husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. Born in Oakland, CA, October 20, 1913, Bob passed away quickly and peacefully at age 98 with his family at his side on April 11, 2012 in the home that he and his wife built near Freestone, CA. It was time for him to go. He had done everything a man could do in a lifetime. Bob "W6BNB" is survived by Dorothy "W6ECU", his loving, devoted wife and constant companion for over 71 years of marriage. Also survived by son Doug "KJ6TEJ" (Juanita) of Santa Rosa, daughter Patricia (Tom) Niles of Owego, NY, grandson Scott (Erin) Niles, granddaughters Kristen Shrader and Dawn (Sadegh) Yazdi, great-grandson Jake Niles and great-granddaughters Leah Niles, Hanna Yazdi and Parisa Yazdi. Starting at the age of 10 by building crystal radio sets, he began the pursuit of his lifelong passion for wireless radio communication and electronics which began while on a cruise to Hawaii with his parents in 1923. The ship's radio operator, a man from Sebastopol, Earl Wohler, invited Bob up to the ship's radio room. Thus began a lifelong friendship that lasted many decades until Earl's passing. Upon graduation from high school, Bob obtained his amateur radio license, W6BNB, and became a licensed commercial radio operator. This was at the height of the Great Depression. Jobs were scarce, but he was hired on as a shipboard radio-telegraph officer for the Dollar Lines, something unheard of for someone so young. Over the next several years he sailed around the world six times and trans-Pacific many more. Oh, the stories he has told about adventures in exotic ports-of-call all around the globe. In 1939 Bob became a deputy sheriff in Alameda County in charge of radiotelegraph operations. He married the only love of his life, Dorothy Fox, in 1941. At the beginning of World War II he began teaching radio and electronics to cadets on Treasure Island. He was assigned the rank of Lieutenant in the U.S. Maritime Service and they relocated to King's Point, NY, where he instructed cadets at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. He returned to his sheriff's position at the end of the war, but soon found his calling teaching electronics at Oakland Central Trade School, later known as Laney College. Bob turned his teaching materials into one of McGraw-Hill's top selling textbooks, "Electronic Communications", published in 1959 and in continuous production through edition 6 in 1991. This book was followed by many others, published in several languages. He retired and moved to Sebastopol in 1969 and built his home five miles west of town at the top of a hill among towering redwood groves. Bob continued authoring books and publishing numerous technical articles for national magazines. He joined the Freestone Fire Department in 1969 and quickly advanced from firefighter to Captain to Chief of the department. He orchestrated the merger of Freestone FD and Twin Hills FD in 1978 and served as President of the Twin Hills Executive Board after that. In 1997 he wrote and published "Fire Fighting, How It's Done". Bob was the founder and member of local, national and international radio organizations, and the recipient of awards and honors too numerous to list. At the age of 97 he researched and wrote "A Freestone Area Story". He was active and alert until his final day. The photo above was taken one day prior to his passing. You could see the sparkle in his eyes the moment he put on his old Merchant Marine officers cap. There will never be another like him. There will be no services. If you would like to honor Bob's memory, the family suggests making a donation to: Mid-Florida Multiple Sclerosis, 2701 Maitland Center Pkwy Suite 100, Orlando, FL 32751
The world has lost one of the most amazing men who ever lived, and our family has lost a marvelous husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. Born in Oakland, CA, October 20, 1913, Bob passed away quickly and peacefully at age 98 with his family at his side on April 11, 2012 in the home that he and his wife built near Freestone, CA. It was time for him to go. He had done everything a man could do in a lifetime. Bob "W6BNB" is survived by Dorothy "W6ECU", his loving, devoted wife and constant companion for over 71 years of marriage. Also survived by son Doug "KJ6TEJ" (Juanita) of Santa Rosa, daughter Patricia (Tom) Niles of Owego, NY, grandson Scott (Erin) Niles, granddaughters Kristen Shrader and Dawn (Sadegh) Yazdi, great-grandson Jake Niles and great-granddaughters Leah Niles, Hanna Yazdi and Parisa Yazdi. Starting at the age of 10 by building crystal radio sets, he began the pursuit of his lifelong passion for wireless radio communication and electronics which began while on a cruise to Hawaii with his parents in 1923. The ship's radio operator, a man from Sebastopol, Earl Wohler, invited Bob up to the ship's radio room. Thus began a lifelong friendship that lasted many decades until Earl's passing. Upon graduation from high school, Bob obtained his amateur radio license, W6BNB, and became a licensed commercial radio operator. This was at the height of the Great Depression. Jobs were scarce, but he was hired on as a shipboard radio-telegraph officer for the Dollar Lines, something unheard of for someone so young. Over the next several years he sailed around the world six times and trans-Pacific many more. Oh, the stories he has told about adventures in exotic ports-of-call all around the globe. In 1939 Bob became a deputy sheriff in Alameda County in charge of radiotelegraph operations. He married the only love of his life, Dorothy Fox, in 1941. At the beginning of World War II he began teaching radio and electronics to cadets on Treasure Island. He was assigned the rank of Lieutenant in the U.S. Maritime Service and they relocated to King's Point, NY, where he instructed cadets at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. He returned to his sheriff's position at the end of the war, but soon found his calling teaching electronics at Oakland Central Trade School, later known as Laney College. Bob turned his teaching materials into one of McGraw-Hill's top selling textbooks, "Electronic Communications", published in 1959 and in continuous production through edition 6 in 1991. This book was followed by many others, published in several languages. He retired and moved to Sebastopol in 1969 and built his home five miles west of town at the top of a hill among towering redwood groves. Bob continued authoring books and publishing numerous technical articles for national magazines. He joined the Freestone Fire Department in 1969 and quickly advanced from firefighter to Captain to Chief of the department. He orchestrated the merger of Freestone FD and Twin Hills FD in 1978 and served as President of the Twin Hills Executive Board after that. In 1997 he wrote and published "Fire Fighting, How It's Done". Bob was the founder and member of local, national and international radio organizations, and the recipient of awards and honors too numerous to list. At the age of 97 he researched and wrote "A Freestone Area Story". He was active and alert until his final day. The photo above was taken one day prior to his passing. You could see the sparkle in his eyes the moment he put on his old Merchant Marine officers cap. There will never be another like him. There will be no services. If you would like to honor Bob's memory, the family suggests making a donation to: Mid-Florida Multiple Sclerosis, 2701 Maitland Center Pkwy Suite 100, Orlando, FL 32751
Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request
There is an open photo request for this memorial
Are you adding a grave photo that will fulfill this request?
Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s).
Oops, something didn't work. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again.
Make sure that the file is a photo. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced.
All photos uploaded successfully, click on the <b>Done button</b> to see the photos in the gallery.
General photo guidelines:
Photos larger than 8.0 MB will be optimized and reduced.
Each contributor can upload a maximum of 5 photos for a memorial.
A memorial can have a maximum of 20 photos from all contributors.
The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional 10 photos (for a total of 30 on the memorial).
Include gps location with grave photos where possible.
No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments.)
There is no plot information for this memorial. Your photo request is more likely to be fulfilled if you contact the cemetery to get the plot information and include it with your request.
You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial.
Memorial Photos
This is a carousel with slides. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel.
Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried.
Show Map
If the memorial includes GPS coordinates, simply click 'Show Map' to view the gravesite location within the cemetery. If no GPS coordinates are available, you can contribute by adding them if you know the precise location.
Photos
For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab.
Photos Tab
All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer.
Flowers
Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button.
Family Members
Family members linked to this person will appear here.
Related searches
Use the links under See more… to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc.
Sponsor This Memorial
Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option.
Share
Share this memorial using social media sites or email.
Save to
Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print.
Edit or Suggest Edit
Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager.
Have Feedback
Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you.
You may not upload any more photos to this memorial
"Unsupported file type"
Uploading...
Waiting...
Success
Failed
This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial
This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial
Invalid File Type
Uploading 1 Photo
Uploading 2 Photos
1 Photo Uploaded
2 Photos Uploaded
Added by
GREAT NEWS! There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery.
Sorry! There are no volunteers for this cemetery. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request.
Enter numeric value
Enter memorial Id
Year should not be greater than current year
Invalid memorial
Duplicate entry for memorial
You have chosen this person to be their own family member.
Reported!
This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates.
0% Complete
Saved
Sign in or Register
Sign in to Find a Grave
Sign-in to link to existing account
There is a problem with your email/password.
There is a problem with your email/password.
There is a problem with your email/password.
We encountered an unknown problem. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists contact Find a Grave.
We’ve updated the security on the site. Please reset your password.
Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. Please contact Find a Grave at [email protected] if you need help resetting your password.
This account has been disabled. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
This account has been disabled. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
Email not found
Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person.
Sign in to your existing Find a Grave account. You’ll only have to do this once—after your accounts are connected, you can sign in using your Ancestry sign in or your Find a Grave sign in.
We found an existing Find a Grave account associated with your email address. Sign in below with your Find a Grave credentials to link your Ancestry account. After your accounts are connected you can sign in using either account.
Please enter your email to sign in.
Please enter your password to sign in.
Please enter your email and password to sign in.
There is a problem with your email/password.
A system error has occurred. Please try again later.
A password reset email has been sent to EmailID. If you don't see an email, please check your spam folder.
We encountered an unknown problem. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists contact Find a Grave.
Password Reset
Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code.
Registration Options
Welcome to Find a Grave
Create your free account by choosing an option below.
or
Ancestry account link
To create your account, Ancestry will share your name and email address with Find a Grave. To continue choose an option below.
or
If you already have a Find a Grave account, please sign in to link to Ancestry®.
New Member Registration
Email is mandatory
Email and Password are mandatory
This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Resend Activation Email
Your password is not strong enough
Invalid Email
You must agree to Terms and Conditions
Account already exists
Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox
Internal Server error occurred
If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map
You must select an email preference
We have sent you an activation email
Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters.
We just emailed an activation code to
Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account.
cemeteries found in will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
Within 5 miles of your location.
Within 5 kilometers of your location.
0 cemeteries found in .
0 cemeteries found.
Add a cemetery to fulfill photo requests
You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below.
Search above to list available cemeteries.
Getting location…
Loading...
Loading...
No cemeteries found
Find a Grave Video Tutorials
Default Language
Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [email protected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. Thanks for your help!
Preferred Language
We have set your language to based on information from your browser.