Life History of Robert Taylor Criger
Robert Taylor Criger was born February 3, 1905 in Elkhart, Elkhart County, Indiana. He is the son of Lou Criger and Belle Louise Wolhaupter Criger. Lou Criger was born February 6, 1872 in Elkhart, Indiana and died May 14, 1934 in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona. His wife Belle was born July 31, 1871 in Bloomfield, New Brunswick, Canada and died March 27, 1959 in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona.
Robert (or Bob, as he was called) was one of six children in the Lou Criger family and was the twin brother of Walter Barnes Criger. His brothers and sister are Rollo Sherman, Harold Louis and Ruth Violet, who are twins, Glenn Lester, and Bob's twin brother, Walter Barnes Criger. With two sets of twins in the family, Belle was busy!
They all grew up in or near Elkhart, Indiana and probably did not see their father Lou as often as other children see their fathers, as Lou was a professional baseball player from 1896 to 1912. Belle had her hands full with her family, as her husband was gone a lot, but from photos in the Criger family album, it is obvious that they had a good time with each other. They had a 210-acre farm in Jones, Michigan, near Bair Lake that Lou had purchased in 1910 with earnings from his baseball career. Lou was a catcher, spending eight of the twelve years that he played baseball with the Boston Red Sox and was a catcher for Cy Young. He played in the first World Series in 1903, winning the Championship.
Bob had many happy memories of his boyhood on their farm. He loved to fish and when he was eleven years old, he caught a 40-1/2 pound carp with just a bamboo fishing pole in Bair Lake near their farm. In the winters, he loved to go ice skating and would fish through a hole in the ice. They had very cold winters and he remembers how he loved to lie down behind the big heating stove in the evening. He would fall asleep until bedtime, when his mother woke him to go to bed. He hated crawling in between those cold, icy sheets!
The children went to school in a large one-room schoolhouse and often went to school bare-footed. Bob walked 2-1/2 miles to attend class but enjoyed snow fights on the way to school in the wintertime. At one time, Harold, Ruth, Glenn, Walter and Robert were all attending this same school. He attended just one year of high school in Jones, Michigan. This was the end of his formal education but he must have had some good teachers that stressed spelling, as he was always a great speller.
Lou's brother Noah, his wife and family were living with Charles and Lovina Criger and helping on the farm but when Lou left baseball and came home to his farm, Noah left Indiana and moved to Montana. Lou was in poor health and when Bob was about 14 years old, his father lost his left leg above the knee to bone tuberculosis and his baseball career was over. In 1918, they sold the large farm and bought a 40-acre farm about three miles from the large farm. This farm was covered with timber and had to be cleared. By 1923, the tuberculosis spread to Lou Criger's lungs and Lou and Belle went to New Mexico to see if the climate there would help Lou's health. Bob wasn't very fond of farm work, so when his parents left for New Mexico, he decided to get away from the farm work - go out and see the world. He tried to enlist in the Army but was turned down because of his age and size. He was small of stature. He had an Uncle, Noah Criger, who lived in Montana, so he and a friend caught a freight train and headed for adventures unknown! They stopped along the way and worked in the wheat and beet fields to earn money. They finally arrived in Montana at Uncle Noah's, where he worked and visited for some time. Bob finally got tired of thinning beets and working in the wheat fields - work that he had left home to get away from! So, at 18 years of age and a seasoned traveler now, he headed back home. His parents had stayed in New Mexico for just three months and then returned home to Michigan. Bob spoke of his experiences as being quite a rude awakening and after he was married, with sons of his own, he said he hoped they would never have experiences like it. Hopping freight trains, associating with people that were part of a life on the road was not something necessarily character building or life enriching! In 1924, the family sold the farm and moved to Arizona. They first lived north of Tucson. Bob lived in different places in Tucson with his parents until sometime in 1926, when he got restless again and a little homesick for the East, where he spent his childhood. So he and a friend started back east on a motorcycle. They finally arrived in Chicago where he ushered in a large theater. When he tired of this, he got a job driving a taxi. Having been raised on a farm in the little town of Jones, Michigan, this was quite an experience for him. He got tired of driving a taxi and got a job in a bakery and that is how he got started in the bakery trade, although he had worked in a bakery in Three Rivers, Michigan in 1922. He finally got lonesome for his parents, so he headed back to Tucson.
He worked in different bakeries in Tucson and became a very good baker, though he was not fond of the trade, as it was always night work and six days a week. He quit for a while and worked for the railroad, repairing freight cars but gave this up and went back to the bakery trade again, as it paid more money.
His parents spent summers in Flagstaff, which is in northern Arizona, as the weather there was very cool but they spent winters in Tucson, which became their permanent home.
In 1928, he met his wife to be, Thora Young, on a blind date. She was born on September 4, 1908 in Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, Mexico and is the daughter of William Harrison Young of Ephriam, Colorado and Effie May Butler of Springlake, Utah. Bob came quite often to Thora's parent's home with friends, and she occasionally went out with him and the group of friends he came with, but it was not until 1930 that they started dating. A romance developed and they were married in Florence, Arizona on July 25, 1931.
He was working in a bakery on Congress Street when they were married. They started housekeeping in a three room rented apartment. It was just the beginning of the depression of the 1930's and times were hard. They started to build a home in 1932 on land given to them by Thora's father, which was close to Thora's parent's home. Two rooms were partly finished by the time their first child, a son, was born. There was no money for a hospital bill, so this first baby was born at home in the little two room house. Times got even worse and Bob was out of work. He went to California to try and get work and was unsuccessful, so he started back home by way of Boulder Dam, where he found work in a sheet metal shop for a few weeks. He earned enough money to send a little home to his family and saved enough to get him back to Tucson. He then found work at the Vance Baking Company for $14.00 a week. Their second child, a daughter, was also born at home. They were still living in just two rooms. Times became even more difficult - Vance Baking Company went broke and he was again out of work.
In February of 1937, , Bob moved his family to Phoenix, as that was the only place he could find work Bob earned $25.00 a week and with this, they had to pay rent, make a car payment and of course, meet household expenses and buy food. Bob only had one shirt and it had to be taken off and washed and ironed and then put back on again. They were there for six weeks when Bob's brother, Walt Criger, sent him a telegram telling him that a Mr. Chet Derbyshire had work for him if he could get back to Tucson in a few days. They packed their few clothes and used the few dollars they had saved for an emergency and bought gasoline to get back to Tucson. Bob worked at this bakery for the next 13 or 14 years. It was called Wilson's Bakery, on the corner of Speedway and Park Avenue.
Things got better for them and by the time their third child was born, another daughter, they were able to finish another room of their home. By the time their fourth child was born, a second son, they were able to add a bathroom, dining room and kitchen onto their home and they were very grateful to finally have a functioning kitchen and indoor plumbing!
His great love was fishing. Summer vacations were often spent in a rented cabin on Mt. Lemmon, and he could fish for a whole week at the Lake there. Thora was a good money manager and they enjoyed a good life on a very limited income.
Bob was a good husband and father. In the spring of 1960, he suffered a heart attack and his health was not too good after that. Then on October 31, 1954, he had another massive heart attack and was no longer able to work in the bakery and had to go on disability. At this time, he was working in a bakery downtown in the McLellen's store. But he continued to use his talents as a baker and baked and decorated quite a few cakes for friend's daughter's weddings. He made and decorated the wedding cake for his oldest son and daughter's wedding.
He suffered a slight stroke, which partially took his sight and he then could no longer drive a car. His health gradually became worse and he suffered another heart attack March 5, 1973, and he passed away. He is buried in the Binghampton Cemetery near the small community of Binghampton, about 7 miles northeast of Tucson.
Robert Taylor Criger was born February 3, 1905 in Elkhart, Elkhart County, Indiana. He is the son of Lou Criger and Belle Louise Wolhaupter Criger. Lou Criger was born February 6, 1872 in Elkhart, Indiana and died May 14, 1934 in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona. His wife Belle was born July 31, 1871 in Bloomfield, New Brunswick, Canada and died March 27, 1959 in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona.
Robert (or Bob, as he was called) was one of six children in the Lou Criger family and was the twin brother of Walter Barnes Criger. His brothers and sister are Rollo Sherman, Harold Louis and Ruth Violet, who are twins, Glenn Lester, and Bob's twin brother, Walter Barnes Criger. With two sets of twins in the family, Belle was busy!
They all grew up in or near Elkhart, Indiana and probably did not see their father Lou as often as other children see their fathers, as Lou was a professional baseball player from 1896 to 1912. Belle had her hands full with her family, as her husband was gone a lot, but from photos in the Criger family album, it is obvious that they had a good time with each other. They had a 210-acre farm in Jones, Michigan, near Bair Lake that Lou had purchased in 1910 with earnings from his baseball career. Lou was a catcher, spending eight of the twelve years that he played baseball with the Boston Red Sox and was a catcher for Cy Young. He played in the first World Series in 1903, winning the Championship.
Bob had many happy memories of his boyhood on their farm. He loved to fish and when he was eleven years old, he caught a 40-1/2 pound carp with just a bamboo fishing pole in Bair Lake near their farm. In the winters, he loved to go ice skating and would fish through a hole in the ice. They had very cold winters and he remembers how he loved to lie down behind the big heating stove in the evening. He would fall asleep until bedtime, when his mother woke him to go to bed. He hated crawling in between those cold, icy sheets!
The children went to school in a large one-room schoolhouse and often went to school bare-footed. Bob walked 2-1/2 miles to attend class but enjoyed snow fights on the way to school in the wintertime. At one time, Harold, Ruth, Glenn, Walter and Robert were all attending this same school. He attended just one year of high school in Jones, Michigan. This was the end of his formal education but he must have had some good teachers that stressed spelling, as he was always a great speller.
Lou's brother Noah, his wife and family were living with Charles and Lovina Criger and helping on the farm but when Lou left baseball and came home to his farm, Noah left Indiana and moved to Montana. Lou was in poor health and when Bob was about 14 years old, his father lost his left leg above the knee to bone tuberculosis and his baseball career was over. In 1918, they sold the large farm and bought a 40-acre farm about three miles from the large farm. This farm was covered with timber and had to be cleared. By 1923, the tuberculosis spread to Lou Criger's lungs and Lou and Belle went to New Mexico to see if the climate there would help Lou's health. Bob wasn't very fond of farm work, so when his parents left for New Mexico, he decided to get away from the farm work - go out and see the world. He tried to enlist in the Army but was turned down because of his age and size. He was small of stature. He had an Uncle, Noah Criger, who lived in Montana, so he and a friend caught a freight train and headed for adventures unknown! They stopped along the way and worked in the wheat and beet fields to earn money. They finally arrived in Montana at Uncle Noah's, where he worked and visited for some time. Bob finally got tired of thinning beets and working in the wheat fields - work that he had left home to get away from! So, at 18 years of age and a seasoned traveler now, he headed back home. His parents had stayed in New Mexico for just three months and then returned home to Michigan. Bob spoke of his experiences as being quite a rude awakening and after he was married, with sons of his own, he said he hoped they would never have experiences like it. Hopping freight trains, associating with people that were part of a life on the road was not something necessarily character building or life enriching! In 1924, the family sold the farm and moved to Arizona. They first lived north of Tucson. Bob lived in different places in Tucson with his parents until sometime in 1926, when he got restless again and a little homesick for the East, where he spent his childhood. So he and a friend started back east on a motorcycle. They finally arrived in Chicago where he ushered in a large theater. When he tired of this, he got a job driving a taxi. Having been raised on a farm in the little town of Jones, Michigan, this was quite an experience for him. He got tired of driving a taxi and got a job in a bakery and that is how he got started in the bakery trade, although he had worked in a bakery in Three Rivers, Michigan in 1922. He finally got lonesome for his parents, so he headed back to Tucson.
He worked in different bakeries in Tucson and became a very good baker, though he was not fond of the trade, as it was always night work and six days a week. He quit for a while and worked for the railroad, repairing freight cars but gave this up and went back to the bakery trade again, as it paid more money.
His parents spent summers in Flagstaff, which is in northern Arizona, as the weather there was very cool but they spent winters in Tucson, which became their permanent home.
In 1928, he met his wife to be, Thora Young, on a blind date. She was born on September 4, 1908 in Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, Mexico and is the daughter of William Harrison Young of Ephriam, Colorado and Effie May Butler of Springlake, Utah. Bob came quite often to Thora's parent's home with friends, and she occasionally went out with him and the group of friends he came with, but it was not until 1930 that they started dating. A romance developed and they were married in Florence, Arizona on July 25, 1931.
He was working in a bakery on Congress Street when they were married. They started housekeeping in a three room rented apartment. It was just the beginning of the depression of the 1930's and times were hard. They started to build a home in 1932 on land given to them by Thora's father, which was close to Thora's parent's home. Two rooms were partly finished by the time their first child, a son, was born. There was no money for a hospital bill, so this first baby was born at home in the little two room house. Times got even worse and Bob was out of work. He went to California to try and get work and was unsuccessful, so he started back home by way of Boulder Dam, where he found work in a sheet metal shop for a few weeks. He earned enough money to send a little home to his family and saved enough to get him back to Tucson. He then found work at the Vance Baking Company for $14.00 a week. Their second child, a daughter, was also born at home. They were still living in just two rooms. Times became even more difficult - Vance Baking Company went broke and he was again out of work.
In February of 1937, , Bob moved his family to Phoenix, as that was the only place he could find work Bob earned $25.00 a week and with this, they had to pay rent, make a car payment and of course, meet household expenses and buy food. Bob only had one shirt and it had to be taken off and washed and ironed and then put back on again. They were there for six weeks when Bob's brother, Walt Criger, sent him a telegram telling him that a Mr. Chet Derbyshire had work for him if he could get back to Tucson in a few days. They packed their few clothes and used the few dollars they had saved for an emergency and bought gasoline to get back to Tucson. Bob worked at this bakery for the next 13 or 14 years. It was called Wilson's Bakery, on the corner of Speedway and Park Avenue.
Things got better for them and by the time their third child was born, another daughter, they were able to finish another room of their home. By the time their fourth child was born, a second son, they were able to add a bathroom, dining room and kitchen onto their home and they were very grateful to finally have a functioning kitchen and indoor plumbing!
His great love was fishing. Summer vacations were often spent in a rented cabin on Mt. Lemmon, and he could fish for a whole week at the Lake there. Thora was a good money manager and they enjoyed a good life on a very limited income.
Bob was a good husband and father. In the spring of 1960, he suffered a heart attack and his health was not too good after that. Then on October 31, 1954, he had another massive heart attack and was no longer able to work in the bakery and had to go on disability. At this time, he was working in a bakery downtown in the McLellen's store. But he continued to use his talents as a baker and baked and decorated quite a few cakes for friend's daughter's weddings. He made and decorated the wedding cake for his oldest son and daughter's wedding.
He suffered a slight stroke, which partially took his sight and he then could no longer drive a car. His health gradually became worse and he suffered another heart attack March 5, 1973, and he passed away. He is buried in the Binghampton Cemetery near the small community of Binghampton, about 7 miles northeast of Tucson.
Life History of Robert Taylor Criger
Robert Taylor Criger was born February 3, 1905 in Elkhart, Elkhart County, Indiana. He is the son of Lou Criger and Belle Louise Wolhaupter Criger. Lou Criger was born February 6, 1872 in Elkhart, Indiana and died May 14, 1934 in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona. His wife Belle was born July 31, 1871 in Bloomfield, New Brunswick, Canada and died March 27, 1959 in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona.
Robert (or Bob, as he was called) was one of six children in the Lou Criger family and was the twin brother of Walter Barnes Criger. His brothers and sister are Rollo Sherman, Harold Louis and Ruth Violet, who are twins, Glenn Lester, and Bob's twin brother, Walter Barnes Criger. With two sets of twins in the family, Belle was busy!
They all grew up in or near Elkhart, Indiana and probably did not see their father Lou as often as other children see their fathers, as Lou was a professional baseball player from 1896 to 1912. Belle had her hands full with her family, as her husband was gone a lot, but from photos in the Criger family album, it is obvious that they had a good time with each other. They had a 210-acre farm in Jones, Michigan, near Bair Lake that Lou had purchased in 1910 with earnings from his baseball career. Lou was a catcher, spending eight of the twelve years that he played baseball with the Boston Red Sox and was a catcher for Cy Young. He played in the first World Series in 1903, winning the Championship.
Bob had many happy memories of his boyhood on their farm. He loved to fish and when he was eleven years old, he caught a 40-1/2 pound carp with just a bamboo fishing pole in Bair Lake near their farm. In the winters, he loved to go ice skating and would fish through a hole in the ice. They had very cold winters and he remembers how he loved to lie down behind the big heating stove in the evening. He would fall asleep until bedtime, when his mother woke him to go to bed. He hated crawling in between those cold, icy sheets!
The children went to school in a large one-room schoolhouse and often went to school bare-footed. Bob walked 2-1/2 miles to attend class but enjoyed snow fights on the way to school in the wintertime. At one time, Harold, Ruth, Glenn, Walter and Robert were all attending this same school. He attended just one year of high school in Jones, Michigan. This was the end of his formal education but he must have had some good teachers that stressed spelling, as he was always a great speller.
Lou's brother Noah, his wife and family were living with Charles and Lovina Criger and helping on the farm but when Lou left baseball and came home to his farm, Noah left Indiana and moved to Montana. Lou was in poor health and when Bob was about 14 years old, his father lost his left leg above the knee to bone tuberculosis and his baseball career was over. In 1918, they sold the large farm and bought a 40-acre farm about three miles from the large farm. This farm was covered with timber and had to be cleared. By 1923, the tuberculosis spread to Lou Criger's lungs and Lou and Belle went to New Mexico to see if the climate there would help Lou's health. Bob wasn't very fond of farm work, so when his parents left for New Mexico, he decided to get away from the farm work - go out and see the world. He tried to enlist in the Army but was turned down because of his age and size. He was small of stature. He had an Uncle, Noah Criger, who lived in Montana, so he and a friend caught a freight train and headed for adventures unknown! They stopped along the way and worked in the wheat and beet fields to earn money. They finally arrived in Montana at Uncle Noah's, where he worked and visited for some time. Bob finally got tired of thinning beets and working in the wheat fields - work that he had left home to get away from! So, at 18 years of age and a seasoned traveler now, he headed back home. His parents had stayed in New Mexico for just three months and then returned home to Michigan. Bob spoke of his experiences as being quite a rude awakening and after he was married, with sons of his own, he said he hoped they would never have experiences like it. Hopping freight trains, associating with people that were part of a life on the road was not something necessarily character building or life enriching! In 1924, the family sold the farm and moved to Arizona. They first lived north of Tucson. Bob lived in different places in Tucson with his parents until sometime in 1926, when he got restless again and a little homesick for the East, where he spent his childhood. So he and a friend started back east on a motorcycle. They finally arrived in Chicago where he ushered in a large theater. When he tired of this, he got a job driving a taxi. Having been raised on a farm in the little town of Jones, Michigan, this was quite an experience for him. He got tired of driving a taxi and got a job in a bakery and that is how he got started in the bakery trade, although he had worked in a bakery in Three Rivers, Michigan in 1922. He finally got lonesome for his parents, so he headed back to Tucson.
He worked in different bakeries in Tucson and became a very good baker, though he was not fond of the trade, as it was always night work and six days a week. He quit for a while and worked for the railroad, repairing freight cars but gave this up and went back to the bakery trade again, as it paid more money.
His parents spent summers in Flagstaff, which is in northern Arizona, as the weather there was very cool but they spent winters in Tucson, which became their permanent home.
In 1928, he met his wife to be, Thora Young, on a blind date. She was born on September 4, 1908 in Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, Mexico and is the daughter of William Harrison Young of Ephriam, Colorado and Effie May Butler of Springlake, Utah. Bob came quite often to Thora's parent's home with friends, and she occasionally went out with him and the group of friends he came with, but it was not until 1930 that they started dating. A romance developed and they were married in Florence, Arizona on July 25, 1931.
He was working in a bakery on Congress Street when they were married. They started housekeeping in a three room rented apartment. It was just the beginning of the depression of the 1930's and times were hard. They started to build a home in 1932 on land given to them by Thora's father, which was close to Thora's parent's home. Two rooms were partly finished by the time their first child, a son, was born. There was no money for a hospital bill, so this first baby was born at home in the little two room house. Times got even worse and Bob was out of work. He went to California to try and get work and was unsuccessful, so he started back home by way of Boulder Dam, where he found work in a sheet metal shop for a few weeks. He earned enough money to send a little home to his family and saved enough to get him back to Tucson. He then found work at the Vance Baking Company for $14.00 a week. Their second child, a daughter, was also born at home. They were still living in just two rooms. Times became even more difficult - Vance Baking Company went broke and he was again out of work.
In February of 1937, , Bob moved his family to Phoenix, as that was the only place he could find work Bob earned $25.00 a week and with this, they had to pay rent, make a car payment and of course, meet household expenses and buy food. Bob only had one shirt and it had to be taken off and washed and ironed and then put back on again. They were there for six weeks when Bob's brother, Walt Criger, sent him a telegram telling him that a Mr. Chet Derbyshire had work for him if he could get back to Tucson in a few days. They packed their few clothes and used the few dollars they had saved for an emergency and bought gasoline to get back to Tucson. Bob worked at this bakery for the next 13 or 14 years. It was called Wilson's Bakery, on the corner of Speedway and Park Avenue.
Things got better for them and by the time their third child was born, another daughter, they were able to finish another room of their home. By the time their fourth child was born, a second son, they were able to add a bathroom, dining room and kitchen onto their home and they were very grateful to finally have a functioning kitchen and indoor plumbing!
His great love was fishing. Summer vacations were often spent in a rented cabin on Mt. Lemmon, and he could fish for a whole week at the Lake there. Thora was a good money manager and they enjoyed a good life on a very limited income.
Bob was a good husband and father. In the spring of 1960, he suffered a heart attack and his health was not too good after that. Then on October 31, 1954, he had another massive heart attack and was no longer able to work in the bakery and had to go on disability. At this time, he was working in a bakery downtown in the McLellen's store. But he continued to use his talents as a baker and baked and decorated quite a few cakes for friend's daughter's weddings. He made and decorated the wedding cake for his oldest son and daughter's wedding.
He suffered a slight stroke, which partially took his sight and he then could no longer drive a car. His health gradually became worse and he suffered another heart attack March 5, 1973, and he passed away. He is buried in the Binghampton Cemetery near the small community of Binghampton, about 7 miles northeast of Tucson.
Robert Taylor Criger was born February 3, 1905 in Elkhart, Elkhart County, Indiana. He is the son of Lou Criger and Belle Louise Wolhaupter Criger. Lou Criger was born February 6, 1872 in Elkhart, Indiana and died May 14, 1934 in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona. His wife Belle was born July 31, 1871 in Bloomfield, New Brunswick, Canada and died March 27, 1959 in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona.
Robert (or Bob, as he was called) was one of six children in the Lou Criger family and was the twin brother of Walter Barnes Criger. His brothers and sister are Rollo Sherman, Harold Louis and Ruth Violet, who are twins, Glenn Lester, and Bob's twin brother, Walter Barnes Criger. With two sets of twins in the family, Belle was busy!
They all grew up in or near Elkhart, Indiana and probably did not see their father Lou as often as other children see their fathers, as Lou was a professional baseball player from 1896 to 1912. Belle had her hands full with her family, as her husband was gone a lot, but from photos in the Criger family album, it is obvious that they had a good time with each other. They had a 210-acre farm in Jones, Michigan, near Bair Lake that Lou had purchased in 1910 with earnings from his baseball career. Lou was a catcher, spending eight of the twelve years that he played baseball with the Boston Red Sox and was a catcher for Cy Young. He played in the first World Series in 1903, winning the Championship.
Bob had many happy memories of his boyhood on their farm. He loved to fish and when he was eleven years old, he caught a 40-1/2 pound carp with just a bamboo fishing pole in Bair Lake near their farm. In the winters, he loved to go ice skating and would fish through a hole in the ice. They had very cold winters and he remembers how he loved to lie down behind the big heating stove in the evening. He would fall asleep until bedtime, when his mother woke him to go to bed. He hated crawling in between those cold, icy sheets!
The children went to school in a large one-room schoolhouse and often went to school bare-footed. Bob walked 2-1/2 miles to attend class but enjoyed snow fights on the way to school in the wintertime. At one time, Harold, Ruth, Glenn, Walter and Robert were all attending this same school. He attended just one year of high school in Jones, Michigan. This was the end of his formal education but he must have had some good teachers that stressed spelling, as he was always a great speller.
Lou's brother Noah, his wife and family were living with Charles and Lovina Criger and helping on the farm but when Lou left baseball and came home to his farm, Noah left Indiana and moved to Montana. Lou was in poor health and when Bob was about 14 years old, his father lost his left leg above the knee to bone tuberculosis and his baseball career was over. In 1918, they sold the large farm and bought a 40-acre farm about three miles from the large farm. This farm was covered with timber and had to be cleared. By 1923, the tuberculosis spread to Lou Criger's lungs and Lou and Belle went to New Mexico to see if the climate there would help Lou's health. Bob wasn't very fond of farm work, so when his parents left for New Mexico, he decided to get away from the farm work - go out and see the world. He tried to enlist in the Army but was turned down because of his age and size. He was small of stature. He had an Uncle, Noah Criger, who lived in Montana, so he and a friend caught a freight train and headed for adventures unknown! They stopped along the way and worked in the wheat and beet fields to earn money. They finally arrived in Montana at Uncle Noah's, where he worked and visited for some time. Bob finally got tired of thinning beets and working in the wheat fields - work that he had left home to get away from! So, at 18 years of age and a seasoned traveler now, he headed back home. His parents had stayed in New Mexico for just three months and then returned home to Michigan. Bob spoke of his experiences as being quite a rude awakening and after he was married, with sons of his own, he said he hoped they would never have experiences like it. Hopping freight trains, associating with people that were part of a life on the road was not something necessarily character building or life enriching! In 1924, the family sold the farm and moved to Arizona. They first lived north of Tucson. Bob lived in different places in Tucson with his parents until sometime in 1926, when he got restless again and a little homesick for the East, where he spent his childhood. So he and a friend started back east on a motorcycle. They finally arrived in Chicago where he ushered in a large theater. When he tired of this, he got a job driving a taxi. Having been raised on a farm in the little town of Jones, Michigan, this was quite an experience for him. He got tired of driving a taxi and got a job in a bakery and that is how he got started in the bakery trade, although he had worked in a bakery in Three Rivers, Michigan in 1922. He finally got lonesome for his parents, so he headed back to Tucson.
He worked in different bakeries in Tucson and became a very good baker, though he was not fond of the trade, as it was always night work and six days a week. He quit for a while and worked for the railroad, repairing freight cars but gave this up and went back to the bakery trade again, as it paid more money.
His parents spent summers in Flagstaff, which is in northern Arizona, as the weather there was very cool but they spent winters in Tucson, which became their permanent home.
In 1928, he met his wife to be, Thora Young, on a blind date. She was born on September 4, 1908 in Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, Mexico and is the daughter of William Harrison Young of Ephriam, Colorado and Effie May Butler of Springlake, Utah. Bob came quite often to Thora's parent's home with friends, and she occasionally went out with him and the group of friends he came with, but it was not until 1930 that they started dating. A romance developed and they were married in Florence, Arizona on July 25, 1931.
He was working in a bakery on Congress Street when they were married. They started housekeeping in a three room rented apartment. It was just the beginning of the depression of the 1930's and times were hard. They started to build a home in 1932 on land given to them by Thora's father, which was close to Thora's parent's home. Two rooms were partly finished by the time their first child, a son, was born. There was no money for a hospital bill, so this first baby was born at home in the little two room house. Times got even worse and Bob was out of work. He went to California to try and get work and was unsuccessful, so he started back home by way of Boulder Dam, where he found work in a sheet metal shop for a few weeks. He earned enough money to send a little home to his family and saved enough to get him back to Tucson. He then found work at the Vance Baking Company for $14.00 a week. Their second child, a daughter, was also born at home. They were still living in just two rooms. Times became even more difficult - Vance Baking Company went broke and he was again out of work.
In February of 1937, , Bob moved his family to Phoenix, as that was the only place he could find work Bob earned $25.00 a week and with this, they had to pay rent, make a car payment and of course, meet household expenses and buy food. Bob only had one shirt and it had to be taken off and washed and ironed and then put back on again. They were there for six weeks when Bob's brother, Walt Criger, sent him a telegram telling him that a Mr. Chet Derbyshire had work for him if he could get back to Tucson in a few days. They packed their few clothes and used the few dollars they had saved for an emergency and bought gasoline to get back to Tucson. Bob worked at this bakery for the next 13 or 14 years. It was called Wilson's Bakery, on the corner of Speedway and Park Avenue.
Things got better for them and by the time their third child was born, another daughter, they were able to finish another room of their home. By the time their fourth child was born, a second son, they were able to add a bathroom, dining room and kitchen onto their home and they were very grateful to finally have a functioning kitchen and indoor plumbing!
His great love was fishing. Summer vacations were often spent in a rented cabin on Mt. Lemmon, and he could fish for a whole week at the Lake there. Thora was a good money manager and they enjoyed a good life on a very limited income.
Bob was a good husband and father. In the spring of 1960, he suffered a heart attack and his health was not too good after that. Then on October 31, 1954, he had another massive heart attack and was no longer able to work in the bakery and had to go on disability. At this time, he was working in a bakery downtown in the McLellen's store. But he continued to use his talents as a baker and baked and decorated quite a few cakes for friend's daughter's weddings. He made and decorated the wedding cake for his oldest son and daughter's wedding.
He suffered a slight stroke, which partially took his sight and he then could no longer drive a car. His health gradually became worse and he suffered another heart attack March 5, 1973, and he passed away. He is buried in the Binghampton Cemetery near the small community of Binghampton, about 7 miles northeast of Tucson.
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