Robert “Bob” John Witzke was born in the Hanover Hospital, August 31, 1944 to Herbert and Lillian (Schiefele) Witzke. He was the second eldest of four children: Larry, Bob, Jim and Judy. Bob was educated at both Chesley Public School and Chesley and District High School. Following school, Bob delivered Pepsi products during the day and went to school in the evening to earn his Journeyman’s Electrical License.
A cute story is told of how Marlene and Bob met. Just ask any of the family. Needless to say, Bob did a lot of walking to court Marlene. Marlene then moved to Kitchener to work at Mutual Life and shortly afterward Bob too moved to Kitchener. There he worked at Fritz Electrical and lived with his soon to be Groomsman, Ross Ruhl. Interestingly enough, Bob and Marlene lived only a block apart, with Marlene living with her soon to be Maid of Honour, Linda Wood. Bob and Marlene Alvina Bluhm were married at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Chesley by The Rev. Richard Tubbe. It was Saturday the 8th of May, 1965. Larry Witzke, Bob’s brother, served as Best Man.
The young couple resided in Kitchener for the first couple of years and little baby Tracey joined them there. In time (1967), the Witzke family moved into a home in the village of Desboro that was only $2,500.00 to purchase. However, the house had no indoor plumbing or running water. As promised, Bob had it installed in the following spring. You see, being a true Witzke, Bob was a man of many talents. There was nothing he could not do. And if there was something he could not figure out, he read and studied until he could. During this time, Bob worked at Fitter Electric in Owen Sound. By the time 1970 rolled around little Trevor joined the family. He was the “planned baby” so as to keep Tracey company.
In 1974 the Witzkes moved to their current residence. Over time, their home has taken on a totally renovated appearance, having taken out walls and added ones in. Despite all of this hard work, “Homer” still insisted on spending most of his time in his shop. In fact, he practically lived there, having his own fridge, coffee maker (not that he made the coffee!), and TV. Perhaps it was because his Kubota tractor was there, or his Yamaha sled, or his stock cars, or the cats. Who knows for sure? It was truly amazing what came out of Bob’s shop. And even more amazing when one knows he only did his work during the TV commercials! When Bob did watch TV it was his beloved “Duke” – John Wayne – and all the classics that he loved to watch. He was also quite the music aficionado. Buddy Holly was introduced to Marlene early on in their relationship.
Bob was an ardent snowmobiler. The truth of it is, whatever Bob did he did with great gusto and passion. While sledding with the Chesley “Easy Riders” dedicated hours were spent grooming the trails. Bob worked on expanding the group’s course to include both the Desboro and Chesley area. The same thing happened when “Homer” decided to take on stock car racing. It became an all-consuming passion, albeit a summertime passion. All of a sudden, Trevor (“Homer Jr.”) found himself racing and Marlene found herself attending all the races. Bob did race when he was younger and when he did race he was quite the @#$% disturber on the track. He loved to run into all the other cars. To be given a black flag was not out of the norm for Bob! Despite this, Bob and Trevor won it all their first year of racing at Sauble Speedway – Rookie of the Year and so forth. When Bob was into something, it was all or nothing. He did everything 24/7.
Believe it or not, Bob also found time to build flying model airplanes. He was just catching on to the idea of flying drones! He was not much of a sport’s fan sitting on the couch or in his lawn chair in the shop. Bob would much rather be doing something as opposed to being idle. When Trevor was young, Bob even coached hockey! Bob also served his wider community in the role as a Mason. At one point he even served as Grand Master.
Bob was a very picky eater. He loved peas, corn, meat and potatoes. And that was about it! Oh yes, there was also rhubarb pie! Since Marlene disliked baking it fell to Tracey to provide her father with the decadent pie! And isn’t she glad she did, especially just this past season! Bob also loved his liquorice allsorts, jelly beans and jujubes. Bob also loved to highway drive. When working away Bob would always drive home on the weekends to spend the weekend with Marlene and family, no matter how far away he was! Driving to the Daytona 500 in February of 2007 was a highlight for Bob. Being at the Daytona 500 with its poor seats and freezing cold weather may not have been such a highlight though.
Sadly enough, it was shortly upon their return from Florida that Bob ended up in St. Mary’s Hospital for a triple by-pass. This was complicated by the fact that Bob already had diabetes. When diagnosed with diabetes in his early 40s, Bob quickly gave up drinking and smoking. However, it still worked its dastardly deed on his heart.
At the age of sixty-six, in 2011, Bob woke up one day and decided to retire. He walked into work, shook everyone’s hands and said he was done. Then he went home and told Marlene. (Too funny!) Thankfully, for five years, Bob was able to enjoy retirement. After working at Fitters Electric in Owen Sound Bob went onto work at the Bruce (Douglas Point) for a while. He then went out to the Tar Sands in Alberta for six months. Following this time out west, Bob went back to working at Ontario Hydro, travelling all over Ontario to work at their generation stations. Bob spent his remaining twenty-five plus years, until retirement, working for Hydro.
Just last May (2015), Bob and Marlene were honoured at a 50th Wedding Anniversary party put on by their children. A good time was had by all! Last October Bob and Marlene attended the beautiful wedding of their granddaughter Lana and enjoyed the visit from their grandson Darren who was home from Saskatchewan. It was a bitter sweet day, however, as it was also the funeral of Bob’s Uncle Ed Witzke. Having learned much from working for Ed in construction, Bob was able to give the thumbs up when Melissa and Trevor bought their “War Time” house in Chesley.
As mentioned above, there was little to nothing that Bob could not do. He was smart and he was willing to learn. He enjoyed the computer as a learning tool and especially loved being on Kijiji, looking for deals on parts. Bob taught by example and by illustration, seldom using his words. His greatest influences were his father Herb and his uncle Ed. Sorrowfully, his mother Lillian died too young to be a strong force in Bob’s life. Bob loved his children and grandchildren. He did all that he could to ensure they were happy. He was sooooo excited to meet his new great-grandson Logan, which he never did have the chance.
Suddenly, and sadly, Robert “Bob” John Witzke of Desboro, passed away with his family by his side on Saturday, July 23, 2016 in his 72ndyear.
Bob will be lovingly remembered by his wife Marlene (Bluhm) of 51 years. Left to mourn are his daughter Tracey (Gord Wright) of Chatsworth and son Trevor (Melissa Travis) of Chesley.
He will live on in the hearts and minds of his grandchildren Lana (Lindsay) Beamish of Keady and Darren Donovan of Weyburn, Saskatchewan as well as his week old great-grandson Logan Beamish.
Bob will be sadly missed by his siblings, Larry (Jan) of Sudbury, Jim (Yvonne) of Chesley, Judy Ruhl of Owen Sound, step-mother Dorothy Witzke of Kincardine, brothers-in-law Larry (Sue) Bluhm of Owen Sound and Paul Bluhm of London, step-brothers Bill and Jim McKeag, step-sister Donna McKeag, as well as their families. In addition, mourning Bob’s absence are his babies, oops – his cats, Lucky and Lucy.
He was predeceased by his parents, Herb and Lillian (Schiefele) Witzke, brother-in-law Fred Ruhl and sisters-in-law Jan Bluhm and Mary Bluhm. Bob was also pre-deceased by one of his favourite cats, Boomer, who lived until thirteen years of age and died recently in the last two months.
Visitation will be held at Rhody Family Funeral Home, Chesley on Wednesday from 6 – 9 p.m. where a funeral service celebrating Bob’s life will be held on Thursday, July 28, 2016 at 2 p.m. Interment in Chesley Cemetery.
Memorial donations to the Canadian Diabetes Association or Heart & Stroke Foundation would be appreciated as expressions of sympathy.
