Call him Sweet Ole’ Bob, aka SOB.
Bob Whitley was born in Birmingham, Alabama on April 1, 1926 to Patrick Henry Whitley and Mittie Falls (Newton). Boy, were they in for an April Fools.
Bob was a graduate of Phillips High School in Birmingham. After that he made his way to Auburn University (mostly by thumb), served 15 months in the Army Air Corps, was discharged in September of 1945, and graduated with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering. He met his future wife, Ruth Marie Schumann, on a train from Auburn to Birmingham, in the fall of ‘47. They married in Virginia in ‘48, and moved back to Alabama in 1950. Bob began his family – Jennifer Ruth (Jeff) Jones was born in 1953, Amy Marie (Tom) Howe in 1955 and Robert Patrick Jr. (Kym) in 1959.
Sweet Ole Bob progressed through the ranks of the US Army Missile Command, eventually managing several major missile systems before retiring in 1982.
Grandkids began blessing him – Zeke Quillen, Emily, Andrew, and Jonathan Howe, Katie Peak and Hunter Whitley. Ruth passed in 1982, he married Laura Pitts in 1983, and welcomed Brenda Toth, Elisha McCarthy and Robert Harvey into his family, as well as Laura’s grandkids – Lisa Woodard and David Zibbon.
Great-grandchildren followed – Whitley Marie, Peyton Annabel and Tristan Lillie Fisher Piercy; Claire Olivia, Anna Caroline, Sam Patrick and Luke Andrew Howe; Aidyn Esther and Susanna Joy Howe; Ryker and Radley Peak; Parker and Kasey Woodard; Alisha, Lauren and Elijah Zibbon.
Since then he has been in his woodworking shop making clamps, clocks, beds, tables, frames, kayaks, pedestals, rattles, mantles, cabinets, turtles, bookcases, canoes, display cases, fish, stools, bookends, candle holders, and well, things that don’t even have a name.
Oh yeah, and lots of sawdust.
Robert Patrick Whitley, Sweet Ole Bob, passed away on June 8, 2023, at 97. The only regret he might have had was that he didn’t make it to 103 (His mother Mittie died at 102).
Sweet Ole Bob. We will miss him.
In lieu of flowers, you may contribute to the charity of your choice.
Visitation will be from 12:30 to 2:00 pm on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, at Laughlin Service Funeral Home with the funeral service following at 2:00 pm. Burial will be in Maple Hill Cemetery.
