Service: 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at Laurel Land Chapel of Chimes. Visitation: 11:30 a.m. prior to the service at Chapel of Chimes.
Memorials: In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Robert's name to the American Cancer Society.
Robert was born on Nov. 17, 1939, in Corsicana to Robert and Maggie Harwell. He was raised and spent most of his life, in Fort Worth.
A self-taught musician who started playing with bands in high school, Robert could play many instruments, but his first love was always the saxophone. He enjoyed a more than 30-year music career playing with many notable acts, including the Juke Jumpers and Delbert McClinton, with whom he appeared on "Saturday Night Live" and "Austin City Limits.
Robert met his wife, Tina, when they took dance lessons together with the Texas Classic Push Club. They enjoyed competing in dance competitions and eventually fell in love and married on April 17, 1993. Besides music and dance, Robert's other passion was finding and restoring antique metal toys from the 1950s and 1960s.
After retiring from the U.S. Postal Service in 2007, Robert and Tina moved to Kentucky where they bought land and built a house out in the country. He enjoyed the simple life they had there immensely-working on his land, fishing in his pond, taking care of his dogs and ducks and spending time with his grandkids.
Robert was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Billy Cook.
Survivors: He is survived by his wife, Tina Harwell; his daughter, Jennifer Dempsey, her husband, Mark, and their children, Erin, Jay, Eva and Will; his son, Scott Blythe, his wife, Molly, and their daughter, Betty; and his son, Chris Blythe, his wife, Jodie, and their children, Brittany, Lexie, Trestin, Hunter and Devin.
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