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Robert ‘Bob’ Edward Pekar, 93

On Jan. 21, 2017, our friend Robert “Bob” Edward Pekar, left this life to be reunited with his best friend and love, Liz. I’m sure that she welcomed him with open arms, surrounding him with her love, and that he is dancing with her, now happy and at peace.

We will feel the void of his absence and remember him fondly, as individually; he touched each of us in different but positive ways.

Bob was born on Nov. 8, 1923, (“never missed an election day since I was born,” he would say) in Glen Carbon, Ill., a small mining town. He was the second of eight children, five boys and three girls. Bob started working in the coal mines at the age of 8 years old, and there began his adventures and stories of life, told as only Bob could tell, of the people he met and the places he traveled along the way.

Of his childhood, Bob would say that his family did not have money, but wanted for nothing because his home was filled with love. His mother would cook for the family in a big second-hand GI military pot and if company stopped by at mealtime, his dad would say, ”Mom we’ve got company put another ladle of water in that soup.” At times, she would sneak Bob a slice of hot poppy seed bread straight out of the oven because she knew it was his favorite and she wanted him to feel spoiled.

Bob went to the recruiting office twice during World War II to join the military and was refused both times for a heart murmur, so he instead went to work in the shipyards as a welder to help support the war effort.

In addition to working in the shipyards, he ran whiskey as a bootlegger, and worked as a scrapper in Kansas City and Texas. Bob befriended all types of people from the common man to presidents, gangsters and country music legends.

Bob would say that he didn’t care about a person’s past, he wanted to know the person standing in front of him. Bob viewed all good people as his tribe, he would repeatedly say “I love everybody.” From Bob we learned that people were the most important thing, taking care of them, treating them right, and that love was all that mattered.

Bob and Liz did not have any children of their own, but they emotionally adopted every child that they encountered. Together they organized Easter eggs hunts, “finding money in the straw,” helping build a park for kids to play, building and decorating floats for the Athol Days parades, and fixing up and giving children bikes. Bob thought every kid should experience having their own bike and the fun and freedom they provided; an attitude that he attributed to his father, who with little money to spend, bought him his very own bike.

Bob and Liz donated property and built a building for an ambulance station, raising money so that the EMS personnel could sleep on beds instead of army cots, and remained unwavering in their support and friendship of the firefighter and EMS personnel at Timberlake Fire. In addition to his “family” at the fire station, Bob had many “sons” and “daughters” in life; an entire community that he considered his children.

Bob is survived by the following relatives, whom he adored: His niece, Peggy Tenllado Schaake (Rodney Schaake); and his nephew, Albert ‘Butch’ Tenllado, all of whom reside in Glen Carbon. His grand niece, Ashley Benker (Joe Benker), and their darling daughter, Julia, all of whom reside in Troy, Ill.

Bob’s funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 30, 2017, at Yates Funeral Home in Hayden, Idaho, followed by a graveside service at Mountain View Cemetery in Athol, Idaho.

Donations in Bob’s memory can be made to Hospice House of North Idaho. Please visit Bob’s memorial and sign his online guest book at www.yatesfuneralhomes.com.