Bob and I had our differences, battles and resentments, we didn't always get along but we were always family. His passing and the manner of his passing hurt and he is missed and will be grieved. Bob was a fighter and a humanitarian. If I were to select a slogan that Bob followed it would be, "POWER TO THE PEOPLE". Yes, Bob was proud, stubborn, hardheaded and egotistical but he always cared. 

It feels wrong, painful even to think of or talk of Bob in the past tense. It is difficult to envision a world without Bob in it. Bob's immortality is in what each of us carries on with what we have learned, felt and experienced from Bob. 

If you were around Bob at all you knew there was always animals around Bob, I can't recall when there wasn't a dog in Bob's home. They weren't pets, they were family members, a part of Bob's ever expanding family. They secured a place in Bob's life almost as valuable and protected as children. Bob was/is also a naturalist, he believed in our environment and the threat that our society posed to our very existence. Bob's spirituality was part of that, he believed in a "higher power" that we can call on for guidance and meaning. There is a standard that we are to live by and are judged by. His standard includes compassion, inclusion, acceptance, tolerance and understanding. Intent is as important as results. He may not have always made the right choices but his intention was always to do no harm and to leave the community a better and safer place to live in. 

Bob's house was alwas a sanctuary with an open door. The variety of people that walked through that door was unlimited; the homeless, the hungry, immigrants, the innocent, the guilty and the lost as well as people of influence, wealth, and prosperity. The door was open to the weak as well as the strong. 

Bob was not shy to voice his opinion, standards and beliefs. He drew people together to listen and to speak out. He championed progress and was frustrated by politics and excuses. In that I guess you can call Bob a 'progressive' or maybe an 'activist'. He never thought of himself as a 'protester'. One thing that Bob was not was a 'follower'.

When thinking about Bob one thing that has to be addressed is 'family'. Family has a priority place in Bob's life but not the common concept of family. Family is not simply a matter of genetics or blood, oned you were admitted into Bob's inner circle; you were family with all the rights and priveleges that 'family' implies. That means that you are stuck with Bob for life, like it or not. 

We will miss Bob and grieve for our loss of Bob but in reality Bob will always be with us, a part of us. Bob touched so many people's life and there is a way that each of us can honor Bob and that is to be the best we can be and make Bob proud of the person he influenced us to become.