Bobby Richard Cairns

Bobby Richard Cairns, age 88, was raised in Illinois, where he enlisted in the Air Force in the fall of 1950. Bobby enjoyed every minute of being a crew chief on P-51D Fighter Sq. There were always plenty of 30-day temporary gunnery assignments that took him to new locations regularly. He left the Air Force after two enlistments to presume a more settled family life in 1960, with the Civil Service at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, NM. During that time, he and his wife, Donna adopted Norman Wayne Cairns of Albuquerque and Kathleen Ann Cairns, who preceded him in death in 2009. He transferred to White Sands Missile Range and moved to Las Cruces, NM, where he worked on the army’s efforts with space flights and once again traveled back and forth to Cape Canaveral. Bobby received a promotion from WSMR requiring him to move the family to Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, NM in 1977, until his retirement on January 2, 1987. He realized his retirement dream of full-timing it in a Winnebago motor home for a year, then purchasing a new home at Cactus Ridge Westside of Albuquerque, where he settled down, until his illness affected his health and caught up with him in 2013. Bobby went home to be with his Lord on Thursday, January 31, 2019. A private family service has taken place.