Marseille, France - Aug 29, 1945
Uncle Bob was the second born of my mother's four brothers. He enlisted in the Army at Indianapolis on July 19, 1943, and served in Europe in Work War II; later he signed up again and served in the Korean Conflict. In civilian life Bob was a linotype operator by trade; I remember it being said that with his skills he could go anywhere in the country and easily find work.
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At 21, he married a woman named Helen Wilson; they had three children: Robert, Jr.; Beverly (Throgmorten); and Barbara (Gutierrez). Uncle Bob and his family eventually settled in Casa Grande, Arizona. He died in 1971 and is buried in Mountain View cemetery in Casa Grande.
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One of his grandsons, Ben Gutierrez, was young when his grandfather died but remembers going with his mother to visit his grandparents almost daily. Already ill with respiratory problems, Bob would be in his pajamas, smoking Pall Malls, and doing crossword puzzles. "I would love to go there," Ben says, "because on his doorknob he would hang rubber bands and I would take them and shoot them all over with a rubber-band gun made from a stick and a spring-style clothes pin."
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On the other hand, Ben didn't appreciate that his grandfather liked to playfully pick him up and hold him upside down -- having three older brothers and four older sisters Ben figured he got more than his share of rough-housing from them.
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Ben's grandfather would also tease him about his ears: "Boy, I sure hope you grow into those ears someday!" This sort of teasing was typical of any of the Luckenbill brothers.
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In Casa Grande, retired and not well, Bob enjoyed walking the couple of blocks to the VFW where he liked to swap stories with fellow veterans.
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He died young, not yet sixty-one years old.
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