Robert E. Yates

Bob was an extremely hard-working, self-motivated, highly disciplined man who strived for excellence in everything he did. He loved life, his family and had many friends. He also had a lot of interests and hobbies and was never without a goal to accomplish even up to his death. He loved the Lord with all his heart and believed his faith in Christ kept him going all these years,

Bob was born in Detroit to Eva and Robert Leo Yates in 1928. He had many fond memories growing up, especially hunting and fishing with his dad. He also loved baseball and was quite a good bowler. He attended St. Frances De Sales high school for a short period of time and then transferred to Wilbur Wright trade school where he excelled in drafting and graduated with a trade and high school diploma.

Love was in the air when Bob met his wife Mary who interestingly lived around the block from him growing up. Mary was a best friend of his sister Jo and that is how they met. Bob and Mary truly were together their whole lives since grade school. They were engaged to be married in 1950, but they had to postpone the wedding as Bob was drafted into the Korean war on October 10, 1950. They remained true to each other for the two years that Bob was in the war and in combat on the front lines.

Bob returned from the war on February 23,1952 unharmed which he attributed to his faith in Christ and everyone praying for him back home. Love could not wait and Bob and Mary were married one week later on March 1,1952. They went on to have four children: Ken, Joanne, Tom and Nancy. He loved taking family vacations and he built two homes for his family, the first in Redford Township and the latter in Farmington Hills where he lived until his death.

Bob worked as a draftsman at various places after trade school and eventually started a lifelong career at Ford Motor Company in 1955 where he hired in as a product designer in the engineering department. At age 35, in 1963, Bob enrolled at Lawrence Tech in Southfield where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering in 1969. Six years of attending night school while working full-time and raising a family paid off when he was promoted to head of the drafting room responsible for over 100 draftsmen.

Bob retired at age 57 in 1985. He and Mary continued to travel throughout the world. He went on to enjoy stamp collecting, gardening, loved flowers, was an avid golfer and runner. During his lifetime he ran over 30,000 miles, enough miles to equal circling the globe 3 times. Bob was also a historian and chronicled his life and family events, his ancestors’ lives and significant world events. Bob was on the Ford Golf League, belonged to the Jim Beam Bottle Club and the Elks Club. He loved to make people laugh and always had a good joke to tell.

Bob is preceded in death by his beloved wife Mary Ann, his mother and father Eva and Robert Yates, and his sister Jean Tetley. He is the father of Kenneth R. (Fran), Joanne F. Edwards (Rob), Thomas D. (Terri) and Nancy E. Szuszman (John) and loving grandfather of Katie (Justin), Tommy, Kristin, Jenna (Ryan), Rachel, Samantha, Isaac, Jessica, Jared and great grandfather of Makenna, Gavin, Garrett, Owen and Luke. He is survived by his sister Georgianna (Jo Yates) Harkins and many nieces and nephews.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared below for the Yates family.