For Bob Fyock’s 70th birthday, he was given a number of shirts as gifts, but the one that generated the most laughs was the one which proclaimed: “It’s All About Bob…the Man, the Myth, the Legend!” So let me tell you about this man. Bob was born in Clymer, Pennsylvania in 1934, but spent his formative years in Flint, Michigan. He was the second of four children - three boys and one girl. After graduating from First Northern High School, he attended G.M.I. (General Motors Institute) that focused on courses in math and science, where he entered their four-year, tool-and-die-maker program. He had chosen this career path after his seventh-grade class toured the Buick factory and he witnessed the work being done by tool-and-die makers. Two years into his apprenticeship, he took a “sabbatical” and enlisted in the U.S. Air Force air rescue and training program. Of the thousands of applicants to the program, 352 were accepted as students, but only 18 graduated from the grueling program - and Bob was in that group. His four-year Air Force career included one year spent in Labrador, Canada, teaching survival classes to pilots, showing them how to survive in hostile territory until they could be rescued. Aircraft were used in rescues during the summer months, with dog sleds used during the winter months. During that time, he walked away unscathed from three aircraft mishaps. While he was stationed at Stead AFB in Reno, Nevada, a friend invited him to church. It was there that he met his future wife of 40 years, Carol Carson. He and Carol had four children - three daughters, Sandra Whitney, Sherri Sans, and Tracy Doue and one son, Randy. Following an honorable discharge from the Air Force, he returned home and resumed the last two years of the GMI program, graduating in 1962. After several job changes, Bob eventually settled at GTE in Mountain View, California, where he worked for 25 years, the last four in England where he was facilities manager for a deep-space satellite tracking station. He returned to the U.S. in 1994. When Bob and Carol returned to the U.S., Carol was diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease, a fairly rare, incurable, progressive genetic disease that attacks the muscular system. She then contracted inflammatory breast cancer and died from that disease in 1997. After his first wife’s death, he met his second wife, Faye Roulo, also at a church. She was the office manager of the church he and Carol had been attending at the invitation of his oldest daughter. They were married two years later; with the ten pastors she had worked with during her 17 years at the church in attendance. Their wedding day was a happy occasion with their children and grandchildren as members of the wedding party. At the reception they danced to the song, “Love Is Lovelier the Second Time Around.” Two years before Faye retired, whenever they traveled somewhere, they played a mental game asking themselves, “could we live here?” Each time they visited Amador County, Sutter Creek played a siren song and so they returned to experience it in all the seasons. Their answer was an unequivocal “yes!” And, in 2002, they bought a home! Bob loved the rural life of Amador County with its oak-studded foothills, uncongested roadways, friendly residents, and spectacular sunsets. He often remarked that people tend to get lost in the anonymity of the big city, whereas in a small town what you do can make a difference. And a difference he did make … He continued his involvement with the United Methodist church, this time in Sutter Creek where he served as chair of the Board of Trustees for 15 years, during which time he spearheaded the renovation of the interior and exterior of the historic church. He volunteered as a docent at the Monteverde Store Museum for many years, especially enjoying the school field trips which gave him the opportunity to share local history with another generation. Every year since its inception in 2007, Bob was Santa Clause on the final float for Sutter Creek’s annual Parade of Lights. Beginning in 2006, when he and his wife initiated Las Posadas, and continuing for 10 years, they coordinated Sutter Creek’s festive Christmas parade that reenacted Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging, with members of four Sutter Creek churches participating. Bob designed and built the Little Free Library at Creekside United Methodist Church on Main Street in Sutter Creek using the dimensions of the British phone booths he experienced while living in England but giving his creation a false front to match the historic buildings in town. The candy canes and bows and boughs that decorate the posts of the buildings on Main Street in Sutter Creek at Christmas were designed and made by Bob, with volunteers doing the painting. He arranged volunteers to hang them every year. Bob organized the Christmas Open House at the Creekside UMC, where children could have free photos taken with Santa and/or make a Christmas craft at one of the many craft tables in the social hall. Sometimes he was the Santa, sometimes the elf! When asked to help, Bob was “Balloon man Bob” for the Sutter Creek Duck Race, blowing balloons in various shapes and giving them to the children in attendance. As a volunteer for VIM (Volunteers in Mission, the United Methodist program that serves churches and people in need locally, nationally, and Internationally), he either led or participated in multiple trips to other states, as well as to Mexico and Wales. Once, when asked the most important thing he learned in life, he contemplated momentarily, then replied, “I think we are all born with a ‘bag of tools’ with God intending that we use these tools to the best of our ability. We have choices to make as to how we use these tools. Sometimes we need others to show us how. Sometimes we show others. We can’t make it on our own in life. I received a lot of help in my early life and now I am trying to reciprocate by helping others.” He will be interred in a private ceremony with family in attendance. A Celebration of Life will be held on Sunday, June 13, at 12:00 noon in the social hall at Creekside United Methodist Church, 14 Main Street in Sutter Creek. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations to honor Bob’s life be given to Creekside United Methodist Church, PO Box 983, Sutter Creek, CA 95685, with a designation of FLO Account, which is used for furnishings, landscaping, and other church projects dear to Bob the Builder’s heart.