Robert Arthur Wilson Jr

Wilson, Robert Arthur Jr.
12/13/24 - 3/7/16

Bob quietly passed away at the Atria facility in Albuquerque listening to a beloved opera, in the morning while attended to by his daughter Melinda, niece Margaret, and Hospice.

He was born in Phoenix to a 'Ford' family. Soon his father moved the family to San Diego to establish his own Ford dealership where Bob attended grammar school. After a divorce he lived in Glendale where he graduated from high school. He spent his summers as a youth at the Neely farm along the Snake River in Idaho where his beloved mother Ruth was born and raised. Bob attended the University of Oregon where he met Margaret (Peggy) Johnston. Bob served in the U.S. Navy between 1943 and 1946. As WW2 developed, Peggy and Bob married in December 1944, at her family's home in Belvedere, CA. He was commissioned and stationed to attend UCLA and later to the USS Kitkun Bay, an aircraft carrier; he lamented not seeing action and his color blindness keeping from becoming a pilot.

Following his discharge he sold used trucks for a few years to support his young family then entered the financial services business in 1950. Bob and Peggy divorced in 1959. Bob met Barbara Broenniman Coyne and was fortunate in his life when she said yes; they married in December 1963, in Los Angeles and Bob adopted her children. Bob worked for three financial companies in Los Angeles over the years and attended the Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania. He retired in 1970, as a Vice President of Mitchum, Jones and Templeton. He was President of the American Lung Association (The TB Association at the time) in California from 1966-67. Bob received the Pottenger Award as outstanding volunteer in California and nationally in 1972, and was lauded by as the 'Manure King of New Mexico' at the luncheon in his honor. Bob continued on the Board of Directors of the American Lung Association until 1975. He would come to say he identified with the characters in the TV show Mad Men.

Bob moved the family to Santa Fe in 1970, where he bought some 50 acres and established Double Arrow Stables. The road leading into the mountains off the Old Santa Fe Trail adopted the name Double Arrow Road. It was a return to his childhood roots working on the farm, and the title 'Farm Hand' was the position he was most proud of. He owned some dozen horses for the local tourist trade and boarded another dozen, and would come to brag of how expert he became in cleaning stalls and paddocks stating, 'there's always a market for good compost'. He became an expert in the sport of Dressage, wrote a treatise on the subject and developed a computer scoring system in Dbase3 being an early computer adopter. He kept chickens, pigs, and milk cows, churned cheese, and tended a large garden to provide foods for the family and for sale; and added to the land holdings.

After dissolving the ranch business in 1990, and selling the land just five miles south of Santa Fe, he built a large true adobe home... with a pitched metal roof, in the hills behind St. John's College, and he and Barbara began to enjoy their retirement years by traveling to New York to attend operas and museums. He followed his genealogical roots to Scotland and Goyan's arrival in Maine in the early 1600s, a marriage to a Mayflower daughter, and Bushrod's voyage around the horn as crew aboard the William Grey (dug up in the 1980s along the San Francisco shoreline) in 1850, with subsequent overland walk from the Umpqua River to Corvalis to become a founder of the city and Oregon State University. For the new adventurer, Bushrod wrote he buried his cache of gold coins somewhere around the mouth of the river to save weight and was never known to return for them.

Bob collected stories of Greek Gods, cartoons, art, and music; he enjoyed reading Richard Feynman, mysteries, and about the natural world. He studied the stars and explored the world down to the microscopic level. He was an artist, a carver and sculpture of wood and horseshoes, a trait he likely got from his mother. His interest in business and politics was never far from his mind.

Bob and Barbara, and their last horse Lightfoot, moved to a log home on 20 ac. in Grass Valley, CA for some years, then returned to live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to be near their daughter Melinda and the land they had all come to love. Bob met many new friends at Atria and participated in the many wonderful events and activities available, especially enjoying a night of dancing he told of recently.

Following in his family's footsteps, Bob was a strident Republican, working in many campaigns until something in him changed. He stated after the Eisenhower/Nixon campaign he decided he was most interested in helping people... helping people who had fewer opportunities than others, and those who would be discriminated against... he became a fervent Democrat and would encourage everyone to vote democrat. His estate will be donated to Harvard to provide legal services for the poor.

Bob was predeceased by grandchild Peter Roni and Vincent Timmons. He is survived by his wife Barbara and children Kathryn Acevedo (Rey), Janet (David), Roger (Linda), Melinda, and Michael (Judy); grandchildren Rey Jr (Miyuki) and Jason Acevedo, Paul, Joseph (Carrie), and Timothy Wilson, Kris Roni (Itati Encina), and Kris Cullymore; and great grandchildren Sasha, Joshua, Pandora, and Lillian.

There will be a goodbye celebration Bob's life at Atria, 1600 School Indian Road, Albuquerque; he otherwise asked no memoriam be planned. His remains will be cremated and scattered on land near Neely, ID. Any memorial donations are encouraged to be made to the American Lung Association.