Robert L. Barnett

Robert Lee Barnett "Bob" was born on May 3, 1938 in Chicago, Illinois, where his father Elby, was working as a pressman. As WWII came to an end, so did his parent’s marriage. His mom, Gladys Norris, packed up her two children and moved back to Marion, Illinois to be with family. Growing up, he recalled it was difficult and they were very poor. However, he was always grateful for the simple things, including an old coat his uncle gave him to stay warm in the bitter Illinois winter and time spent exploring with his cousins. At some point in his young life, an individual in town who owned a radio repair shop, recognized his interest in electronics and donated many of his old radios to Bob so he could take them apart and learn how they worked. After graduating high school, he left Illinois to serve in the US Air Force where he continued his engineering path working in radar. After serving time in Korea, he was stationed on Grand Bahama Island, where he was able to track the Pioneer and first 4 Apollo missions for NASA. In his free time, he built telescopes and studied photography. When his commission ended in 1963, he found his way to California to work in the new computer industry, but instead landed a job with GE in Phoenix, Arizona. He would spend his time exploring Arizona in his Sunbeam convertible, volunteer at Phoenix International Raceway, and build RC airplanes and cars. In 1970, he went on a blind date where he met, Barbara Seymour. They were married in 1971 and their daughter was born in 1972. The family of 3 moved to north Glendale in 1977 as Bob continued working for GE which became Honeywell, and later Bull Worldwide. In the mid 1980’s, he was able to travel to Milan, Italy for work. As technology changed, he continued to go back to school, even learning to read and write French. He always was at the top of his class, even making honor roll several times. When at home in Glendale, Bob was always tinkering or spoiling the family dog. Whether it was building a giant radar tower in the back yard, constructing a 3-story dollhouse with working lights, or cutting and grinding stones to make jewelry, he was always creating. Vacations were usually spent fishing and camping at White Horse Lake. Weekends were spent target shooting or with the Pebble Picking Pose rock club, collecting rocks and minerals. In later years, weekends were spent with his daughter at the various compound archery tournaments around the state. By the early 1990’s, his days adventuring had come to an end and he took early retirement to care for his ill wife. With the support of neighbors and friends, he would be at her side until her death in 2008. After her death and new found freedom, he started to venture out again. However, this was short lived when the years of smoking caught up with him and he suffered a ruptured aneurysm and thrombosis. After recovering, his days were spent watching movies, sneaking treats to his grandson, playing dominos with the neighbors and meeting at Anzio’s every Friday for lunch with long time friends from work. In 2019, he moved into assisted living where he still found time to sneak treats to the kids and spoil the resident dog. On December 4, 2020, Bob passed away at 82 years old. He is survived by his sister Dolores, daughter Jean Ann, grandson Zander, along with nieces, nephews, and cousins in Illinois and Florida. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Hospice of the Valley or Paralyzed Veterans of America.