Robert. E. "Bob" Hess

Robert Edmund Hess, known to his friends as Bob, cupped his last tee shot Tuesday, June 15, 2010 following complications from a stroke suffered at his home in Sandpoint on June 6th, 2010. Memorial services will be conducted at 10:00 AM, Saturday, June 19th, in Coffelt’s Funeral Chapel. Pastor Paul Graves will officiate. He was born May 24th, 1919 to Hans Christian Hess and Edla Bjournsen Hess in Fairbanks, Alaska. In 1920 Bob was the first non-Native American child to travel by dog sled from Fairbanks to Anchorage. He grew up attending public schools in Tacoma, Washington, graduating from Lincoln High School in 1938. After graduation he worked in an area lumber mill and an oyster cannery in the Tacoma area. Bob went on to attend the University of Puget Sound until his education was interrupted by World War II. He enlisted with the United States Marine Corps in April of 1942 and served in the South Pacific as an Airborne Radar Technician. He participated in the Bismarck Archipelago and the Treasury-Bougainville operations receiving a commendation and an honorable discharge at the rank of Master Technical Sergeant with the Marine Air Casual Squadron Four, Marine Corps Air Depot, Miramar in October of 1945. He returned to the Puget Sound area and continued to work his way through college at area mills and other jobs. He studied subjects from Theology to Math and eventually earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Washington State University at Pullman. Bob moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in California and went to work for Pacific Gas and Electric Company as a field clerk in the gas department in 1955. In 1957 he met and married Joyce Kemp in Sacramento and they lived in San Jose where their only child Leonard was born. In 1961 Bob was transferred to Sandpoint, Idaho with the PG&E subsidiary Pacific Gas Transmission. He worked as a Senior District Field Clerk at the Samuels compressor station until his retirement in 1980 at age 62. Bob worked for PG&E/PGT for a total of 27 years. He was a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245 and served as local shop steward for a number of years. Bob was a member of the Sandpoint Elks Lodge #1376 and golf course where he was an avid golfer for the past 50 years and earned his lifetime golf pass. He could be found playing there only days before his stroke with his friend Ed Parkins. You could depend on Bob and Ed’s tee time - Monday through Friday at one o’clock. Bob played in the Thursday night Men’s League for over 40 years. Some years back he was also an avid bar dart league player, raced in the ski series at Schweitzer and bowled in league. Bob lived life to its fullest and enjoyed all of his friends and family as he was enjoyed and loved by all. He was truly a “Great Guy.” Bob is survived by his son Lenny and wife Nancy and 3 step-grand children - Marita and husband Lee Beier of Mauston, WI , Caleb and wife Lisa Bowman of Campbell, CA and Clay Bowman of Sandpoint. Bob was preceded in death by the love of his life Joyce Hess in 2004.