Robert Wolfe “Bob” Isaacs, 89, passed away peacefully Saturday, February 20, 2021 in Stockton, California due to Covid-19.
Due to the current pandemic, Bob’s memorial service will be delayed, and the family has not yet set a date. Bob will be interred next to Ruth in Clayton, New Mexico.
Bob Isaacs was born at home September 22, 1931 in Clayton, New Mexico to Robert Phillip and Eva Estelle (Freeman) Isaacs. He attended elementary schools in Clayton, and graduated from Amarillo High School in 1949, where he was active in Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) and attained the rank of Cadet Lieutenant.
He briefly attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, before returning to Amarillo to start working as a rodman for the City of Amarillo Engineering Department, and to marry Ruth Marie Peffley on January 12, 1951. They initially settled in Amarillo, where their first two children (Bobby and Jeannette) were born, and Bob was active in the 36th Division, Texas National Guard; Service Co. where he rose to the rank of Sergeant.
In 1955 both Bob and Ruth decided to go back to college and get their bachelor’s degrees. Bob always claimed that taking his toddler son and daughter with him to the interview convinced the dean of admissions at Texas Tech in Lubbock to give him another chance at college.
While at Texas Tech, Bob, Ruth, and their two kids, lived in an 8’ x 35’ Spartenette trailer in a park near the campus. In 1957 their family added another daughter, Charlotte, which made the trailer even more crowded.
Bob remained active in the Texas National Guard, transferring to the 302 Army Reserve Signal Co. in Lubbock, where he attained the rank of Master Sergeant, drilling every summer at Ft. Hood.
He graduated from Tech with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in 1959, though he finished his classes at the end of the Fall semester of 1958. North American Aviation (NAA) in California offered Bob a job, and even offered to move the trailer from Texas, so the whole family relocated to a trailer park near Torrance, CA (now City of Carson) where they lived until early 1962, when Bob was transferred to the NAA facility in Palmdale, CA and the family moved into a house in Lancaster. The family was complete with the birth of Rebecca shortly after moving to Lancaster.
Bob always joked that he built “flying bridges”, as he put his Civil Engineering degree to good use in aviation in an exciting time for innovation. His first project was working on the XB-70 Valkyrie supersonic strategic bomber. During this time America was engaged in the Space Race, and Bob contributed by working on the Apollo Saturn V second stage. He also continued as one of the engineers working with the XB-70 after the bomber program was cancelled and the two prototypes were transferred to NASA for research missions at Edwards Air Force Base, north of Lancaster.
Bob continued to contribute to defense projects at North American Aviation as it merged to become North American Rockwell, and finally Rockwell International, working on the B1A and B1B Lancer bombers. Between the B1A and B1B, he spent six months at Lockheed helping design the L-1011 TriStar wide-body passenger plane, before returning to Rockwell.
Bob loved the outdoors and camping. Family summer vacations were often spent exploring the numerous national parks in the West, where the whole family camped out in pup tents, and cooked meals over a camp stove. Bob was also an Assistant Scoutmaster in young Bob’s Scout troop, spending many weekends mentoring the next generation while backpacking and camping all over California.
In the mid 1960’s Bob discovered muzzle loading after purchasing a replica cap-and-ball revolver. He took the whole family to his first black-powder “buffalo shoot” with the High Desert Muzzle Loaders in Lancaster, and competed against rifles with that pistol. He did not get the top score, but managed to place in one of the events, and had a great time. By the next shoot he had a rifle and a long-term love of the sport. In 1977 he and his daughter, Rebecca attended the first Santa Fe Trail Rendezvous in Raton, NM. He continued to attend the annual Santa Fe Trail Rendezvous for more than 25 years, until his failing health prevented him from travel. He served as its Booshway in 1988. During this time he took his family to rendezvous in California, Oregon, and New Mexico.
After retiring from Rockwell in 1989, Bob was able to devote more time to his hobby of muzzle loading and with Ruth traveled around the West to many additional muzzle loading rendezvous. In the 1990’s Bob and Ruth served as NMLRA Field Representatives for the Western States. Bob pioneered muzzle loading shotgun events at the Jed Smith Rendezvous in Grants Pass, Oregon. While he always enjoyed the competition, Bob relished the camaraderie and seeing old friends.
Bob was preceded in death by both his father and mother; his loving wife of more than 56 years, Ruth; two brothers, John Phillip Isaacs and his wife Karen, and Henry McNeill “Mac” Isaacs, and one daughter, Charlotte Ruth Frye.
Survivors include his three children: one son Robert Philip Isaacs and his wife Diana (Mitchell) of Hiram, Georgia; two daughters Jeannette Lucille Darlington and her husband Lee of West Hills, California, and Rebecca Grace Bruno and her husband Tory of Denver, Colorado; nine grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren: of Robert and Diana, grandson Robert Wolff, his wife Diane Evangeline Bailey-Isaacs, and their children Sara and Lydia; granddaughter Rachel Grace and her husband Aaron Nicholas Hildebrandt, and their children Judah and Ezra; of Jeannette and Lee, Evan Douglas and Glen Robert; of Charlotte and her husband Gordon Frye, granddaughter Elizabeth Frye Jeffress, her husband Jeremiah Jeffress and their children Zeke and Neva; granddaughter Alexandra D’Aguanno, her husband Giovanni D’Aguanno and children Mason, Irelynn, Darienne, James, Evelyn and Athena; granddaughter Catherine Frye Kunkel, her husband Michael (Myke) Kunkel and their children Eugene, Jonathan and Grace; of Rebecca and Tory, grandson Arthur S, granddaughter Brianna V and her husband Gregory H Duncan.
Bob’s stepmother Elizabeth “Bess” Isaacs of Clayton, New Mexico; two brothers William “David” Isaacs and Richard Isaacs and his wife Sheryl and their children of Clayton, New Mexico; one sister Mary Laumbach and her husband Enrique “Rick” and their children of Roy, New Mexico, and his late brother Mac’s wife Nelda Isaacs and their son.
Bob’s nephew John Isaacs, his wife Luana, and his family of Ft. Sumner, New Mexico, and niece Kimberly Trumball, her husband Doug, and her family of St. George, Utah.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Bob’s memory. Several organizations which would be appropriate are the Herzstein Museum, 22 South Second Street, Clayton, NM; the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association, Friendship, IN (https://www.nmlra.org/donate); or the Alzheimer’s Association (https://www.alz.org/get-involved-now/donate).
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