Ginny, Michelle, Rich, Mark, Michelle, Ariel, and Brendan. You all have my deepest condolences for the loss of a wonderful, son, brother, husband, and father.
Hello everyone, my name is Patrick McDaniel. I had the honor of being Robs close friend for 41 years. This past spring, my family and I traveled to Oregon over spring break. It had been 4 1/2 years since Rob & I had seen each other in person. He had been asking me to come check out his family’s cabin on the Oregon Coast for almost that long. So, my family and I drove out to Netarts Bay on Saturday April 1st and spent a great day with Rob. He showed us around the area, we went to the beach, got lunch at a deli, he took us to his favorite viewpoint of the area. Most importantly I got a chance to introduce him to my sons Dylan & Riley. We discovered that Riley is a fan of Netarts Bay edible seaweed. Rob shared samples from a business he was helping to get started. Rob, the social butterfly he was, knew everyone in the town of Netarts Bay it seemed. I think someone referred to him as the mayor.
I learned the terrible news of his passing one week after our visit on the morning of easter Sunday.
Rob and I met in 1982 when we were 11 years old. I had just gotten my first “real” job as a paperboy for the Evening Outlook newspaper. A stack of papers for me to deliver was dropped off daily at a location here in the Palisades where Ken and Rich Waco, also paperboys, also folded their papers to deliver. As we got to know each other, they learned that I was an altar boy here at Corpus Christi Church and wondered if I knew their little brother Robert, who was my age, also an altar boy here and had a paper delivery route. Soon, Robert and I started hanging out and discovered that we shared a lot of similar interests, like hiking and going to the beach. We became very close friends.
When I was 12, my parents bought me a minibike, with a lawn mower engine that requires you to pull a rope to start. Rob and I really bonded around driving it around the Palisades. Often, we would do both of our paper routes on it. Sometimes we would do his paper route first, then he would joke that he had to leave to do something else rather than coming along on my route. “I’ve got to go” became an inside joke between us that lasted our entire friendship.
Around the age of 16, Rob and I both decided to quit our paper routes and get a job at Hughes Market (which is now the Ralphs next door to the church.) They were paying $3.15 an hour and we could get tips. With our newfound wealth, we started taking trips to Baja California, Mexico, with friends who had a car. We would buy fireworks you couldn’t get in California and shoot them off on Rosarita beach where we camped. I don’t recall exactly what happened, but Rob spent the night in a Mexican jail at one point. For decades It remained one of his favorite stories to tell.
Zeke Bean, Peter Hockman, Edwin Beckenback, and Gregg Ornstein, all of whom who are here today, were a core part of a larger group of friends Rob and I shared. We spent many memorable times together. We all joined the Palisades High hiking club. One of the common destinations was camping over three-day weekends at Anacapa island, one of the Channel Islands off the coast. On one of those trips, Rob and I decided to bring a small inflatable (which was probably designed for a pool) to go scout out around the island. On our way back in, we paddled into a sea cave and promptly got flipped over by a wave. It was a terrifying experience. As more waves continued to break in the cave, our bodies were raked against the barnacle covered walls to which we clung. With an instantaneous agreement we both jumped into a particularly strong outgoing current and managed to swim out and back to the safety of a nearby dock. That was a seminal bonding experience for us.
After a road trip to visit Humboldt State University in Arcata, CA with Ginny Waco in the late 80’s, Robert and I both landed on there and were house mates for two years. Rob was a math guy, like his father Roland, and he studied Environmental Engineering. Rob was fascinated with the chemical and industrial processes, that would later define his career. He constantly dragged me along for afternoon tours of the local lumber mills, pulp mills, cogeneration energy, sewage plants, and local breweries to learn about how they worked. It was interesting and eye opening, and I don’t think I would have ever done that if it wasn’t for being Robs buddy. The most indelible memories are the smell of those sewage plants…
He and I spent countless days hiking and backpacking on the coast and in the redwoods. We were aficionados of the budding microbrew scene of the early 90’s and we started making our own using ingredients from the local breweries.
Rob became a big fan of NASCAR racing in college, dedicating a part of his weekends to rooting for his favorite car, which was sponsored by Texaxo / Havoline. His personal cars became known as the Texaco Havoline Escort, & the Texaco Havoline Thunderbird. Then once he had established his career in Portland Oregon, he bought his own real race car & trailer, which he raced at different tracks around the west coast.
After college I often drove up to Portland see Rob. After he settled down in a house of his own, he met Michelle, with little Arielle in tow. Rob and Michelle shared a sense of humor that sold me quickly on the idea that she would become his wife. I was welcomed by her and was invited along for quite a few of their adventures: a concert camping trip in eastern Washington, ski trips, fun times around the Portland Area. I had the honor of being Rob’s best man when he and Michelle married in 2002. Brendan came along in 2004. Rob told me that Brendan’s birth was the proudest moment of his life. Right from the beginning, Rob shared his love of hiking with Brendan, taking him on day hikes and eventually backpacking trips. Rob was my best man at my wedding to Charleen in 2013. Rob and I saw each other less regularly over the last 10 years but kept in touch often. Rob and Brendan last stayed with us on their way to backpack at Sequoia NP in August of 2018 a month after my son Riley was born.
I didn’t know that my April 1st visit to see Rob would be endcap of a 41-year friendship, but I feel so fortunate to have spent that one last day with him. His unexpected and shocking death is a reminder of how quickly our reality can change.
Rob was a sentimental guy; he’d get misty eyed talking about people who had passed. Let us honor Robs memory by keeping close those people who mean the most to us in life.
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