|
She said he had a heart attack some time ago, and at that
time they put in a stint. A day or so ago, apparently the stint became
clogged and he had a very serious attack, leaving him on life support. The life support was removed according to his wishes and he then completed
his passing. Some of you will remember Bob as an instructor in the Federal
Electric Era at the White Alice School out on West 5th Avenue in
Anchorage, Alaska. Others will remember him in the early 1960's
as the Manager of the White Alice Engineering Department at the RCA Building,
515 E Street, Anchorage. Bob left Alaska in about 1964 (as I recall). He later went to
work with Page Communications Engineers when Page had its offices in
Georgetown (Washington), DC. Page was engineering and building
the IWCS-SEA. When the IWCS's Maintenance and Operations phase
began in the first part of 1967, Bob was assigned to Saigon,
Vietnam as the Operations Manager under Project Manager (Wild) Bill
Haycock. In about 1969, Bob was sent to Australia to handle a bidding
job. When that was completed he decided to stay in
Australia. That was the end of his relationship with Page
Communications, and also with his wife Rita in
Saigon. (Rita later went back to Alaska). Most of us never
saw Bob again, after his going to Australia. In Queensland about 1990 (as I recall, but it could have been a
bit earlier - or later), Bob was involved in the shooting of a
fellow game hunter. He was accused of
murder. Our fellow Pageneer, John Foster, through his
"Pageneers-West" newsletter, organized and solicited support
for Bob's defense which lasted several years. Bob suffered through
two trials, then at the third trial, all charges were dismissed and his
was released from prison. That left him broken financially, but not in
spirit. After thanking us for our support, he went about rebuilding his
life. He did not look back. My most recent contact with Bob was last
fall when I mailed him a vacuum pump from Harbor Freight so he could repair
his car's air conditioner. That was typical of Bob... actually
quite an intellectual. He is survived by his son (born in Australia) and his companion
of the last 12 years, Allison Lingard. (I am uncertain as to the status of either his first wife, Rita.
I have no information at all on the status of his Australian wife, mother of
his son. And I am sorry, but I do not know his son's name.
If any one of you have such information please let me/us know --
I would like to include he son's name on the card I plan to
send.) If you care to send a card, the address is: Allison Lingard 20 Phillips Street Bluewater, Queensland AUSTRALIA, 4814 May he rest on peace. Clayton Benner |