Robert Eugene Blanford

My Uncle Bob… he was a pretty amazing guy! We would spend hours and hours talking about everything you could imagine. We’d solve the worlds problems in nearly every conversation. We had many many conversations about God and for the most part we agreed …but not always. But that was okay…we both still love God and in the end, that’s all that matters. He always wanted us kids to buy him golf balls for Christmas. I got bored with that and so I’d try to find other things I thought he’d also appreciate…like a delicious ham from Honey Baked; he said it was like candy in the frig. Every time he walked by he had to take a piece. One year I found some vintage Rachmaninoff sheet music for him to learn on the piano. I think he had a love-hate relationship with the piano. ONLY ONCE did I ever hear him play it when I had called him and Shirley answered the phone. I heard music in the background and she told me that was him playing the piano. He was AMAZING! The man could draw too. He was an Artist…with an Artist’s soul! But he didn’t like to share that with people. I’ll never understand why. He likely didn’t think he was good enough…but HE WAS! Uncle Bob was pretty darn intelligent too. I was amazed at how easily he figured out how to use a smart phone…he was way into his 80’s when he did that. And what an incredibly generous and kind person he was. He loved to help people. He would offer elderly women rides to church and then take them out to lunch. I’m sure he did other things that he just didn’t tell people about. I’m going to miss Uncle Bob and our great conversations. One of the last conversations we had, he mentioned going to purgatory. I told him I wasn’t going to purgatory but I’d see him in Heaven! That was one of our belief differences…no matter, I believe I’ll see him again on the other side. Rest in Peace my Uncle, my Friend.