Robert G. "Bob" Bond of Loveland. Beloved husband of Dotty Bond (nee Michels). Dear father of Daniel Alan Bond, Bobbi Jean Calvin (Terry) and Richard Briggs (Malissia). Proud grandfather of Randy, Chad, Kelly, Melissa, Nichole, Michelle, Jacob and Morgan. Great-grandfather of Emberlynn. Also survived by his niece Linda Richardson. Passed away June 23, 2015 at the age of 82. U.S. Army Veteran. Bob loved golf, the Reds and his dogs. Family will receive friends Monday, June 29 from 1-2 p.m. in the Tufts Schildmeyer Funeral Home, 129 N. Riverside Dr., Loveland, where services will follow at 2 p.m. Interment Williamsburg Cemetery. Eulogy for Robert G. Bond (Bob ) June 24, 2015 Bob was born on August 14, 1932 in Afton, a little town in Clermont County near Williamsburg. He was the youngest of nine children born to Eliza Alexander and Joseph Butler Bond and was my mother's baby brother by12 years. He grew up on a little country road called Half Acre Road across the road from where radio station WOBO stands and operates today. It was a brown shingle story and a half house with a wide front porch. Bob's tiny bedroom was on the second floor beside his brother Dick's room. At night he could hear the mournful wail of freight trains traveling along their 3 acre home. His father worked for that railroad. They grew their own vegetables and raised chickens and pigs to sustain them. With no plumbing in the house they pumped water from a well outside the house. I remember drinking water from a dipper in a pail of water in their kitchen. The house had a wood burning stove in the living room for heat. The family lived in near poverty. I remember my mother said she was embarrassed when she had no shoes to wear to school. I think the younger children like Bob fared a little better. But life was a lot less complicated back in the thirties and forties so people were far less accustomed to luxury. Kids usually have a few treasures. I remember Bob had an old sword handed down from some long past war. I think Bob had a rather harsh father and not a lot of joy in his childhood. But Bob did have one close animal friend, a little piglet he named Tojo. He suffered some real trauma when Tojo's time ran out and he was needed for their dinner table. There were a couple of old dogs and a bunch of feral cats that lived under the house. It was truly a typical farmhouse of the pre- World War II era. I always looked up to Bob as one of my heroes when I was a little girl He was quite good looking with his dark eyes and black hair and I thought he had a wonderful expressive voice. He came to visit us for overnight stays when he was a young teenager and I remember being thrilled when he talked to me and drew pictures for me. I thought he was a wonderful artist. 1 Of course then there was the time that Bob found me eating some of the grapes on the arbor at the side of the house. Those big Concord grapes were so sweet and juicy. He encouraged me to eat more and more, then later laughed when my stomach revolted with an upchuck! He reminded and teased me a lot over the years about getting sick that day from overeating those grapes. He went through the ninth grade in school like most of his siblings. Lying about his age like many young teenagers of that time he joined the Army when he was sixteen. His father had died and he wanted to help his mother financially. He spent three years in Germany and often tried to show off what little German he learned. It came off in the strangest dialect of half English in a German accent and half German in an English accent. Having a German father myself his attempts were really comical. But his overseas experience there must have been pretty awesome for this young farm boy! He was smitten by the love bug when he returned from the Service and married Helen Wolf, a 16 year old local girl. Bob was 20. The young couple had a son Danny and his namesake daughter, Bobbi Jean. Sadly this marriage only lasted a few years before ending in divorce. Bob and I kept in contact during all those years. He worked at General Electric for many years until they had a major downsizing. After losing that job Bob went to work for McAlpins, one of Cincinnati's earliest major Department Stores. He sold furniture there several years until McAlpins closed their furniture Dept. With Bob's outgoing personality he found success in selling and moved on to Furniture Fair. There he made good friends with his boss Eddie Hartman of Eddie and Anthony Munoz TV advertising fame. Bob had a memorable friendly disposition and helped many return customers over the years. While working at McAlpins after his divorce he met and dated a woman named Jean. A budding romance had ensued when Jean was diagnosed with cancer. Though never married to her, Bob supported her through the time of her death. 2 It was a melancholy Bob I ran into at McAlpins one day a short time later. It was hard for me to see him so sad. I invited him to my circle of friends and introduced him to Dorothy Michaels Briggs. Dotty was one of my closest friends. Her father Bernard Michaels had grown up in Hallenberg, Germany with my father Ernie Schoettler. Friends during their childhood, my father had the dream of coming to America. he did this after his mother died in 1924 when he was19. Bernard was inspired by my father to also emigrate from Germany to America. They both wound up living in Clermont County and worked together in the old Berling Dairy in Fairfax. Both married local farm girls and both had two daughters. I was the older of the two from Ernie and Dotty was the younger daughter of Bernard. Thus Dotty and I had a family history together and became very close as adults. Little did I expect to see Bob and Dotty who had never met each other before strike up a romance. Four months after meeting, the two announced their engagement to me. I have to admit I was a little apprehensive. Playing matchmaker can be a dangerous game! Dotty and Bob married on May 15, 1971 beginning a marriage that lasted 44 years - pretty rare for second marriages. Dotty had a teenage son Rick who lived with them for a few years and Bob's children lived with their mother. After a long gap in their relationship he reconnected with his daughter Bobbi Jean and his grandchildren, Randy, Kelly and Chad and even enjoyed great grandchildren. This was a very rewarding reunion for both of them. Bobbi Jean's family spent holidays with Bob and Dotty at each others homes and built a loving relationship. Bob favorite yard treasure is a gift from his daughter, an old fashioned antique water pump like the one at his old home in Afton. Bob and Dotty both were real neat-niks about their home. Bob especially loved working in his yard, growing flowers and tomatoes. His yard was as well kept as a park. 3 Though he was not the church goer like Dotty was, he joined her church and became a saved Christian and pledged his life to Jesus Christ much to Dotty's joy. One of his best loved activities was bird watching. He kept his feeders full and enjoyed a variety of beautiful songbirds and woodpeckers. He loved seeing the deer come out of the woods to his backyard fence. They even had a raccoon friend who visited their backyard and showed off her young brood to them. He was a baseball and football fan and became an avid golfer. Bob owned two horses and like to horseback ride. They both were dog lovers and he was often seen walking Casey, their large Great Pyrenees on the Loveland Bike Trail. In more recent years they both walked their two little Yorkshire Terriers, Tibby and Max, around the neighborhood until they died recently. After my second marriage to Ron Richardson in 1991 the four of us had many good times together. We enjoyed many afternoons at the Valley Vineyards Winery in Morrow, played cards often and even went on vacations together. Our last trip together was to Germany where Bob reminisced about his years in the service and Dotty was able to meet her remaining relatives in Germany. Our friendship was enduring and close. In the last few years Bob's health declined. He survived a bout with lung cancer and with his weakening kidneys and heart. He began showing signs of dementia but was lucid most of the time. It was a difficult time for him and Dotty, but she remained the loyal and caring wife during their final troubling years. I saw Bob withdraw socially as more and more of his friends died. Bob spent the last four months of his life in the Clermont Health Care Nursing Home. He faded quickly there and finally passed away last Tuesday, June 23, 2015. His family and friends will remember Bob with his snow white crew cut hair planting flowers and feeding birds. Like all of us he was the product of his life experiences and will live on in the hearts of all who loved him. ! Rest in Peace Bob...! ! ! Linda Richardson, Bob's Niece Funeral Home: Tufts Schildmeyer Family Funeral Home & Cremation Center - Loveland 129 Riverside Drive Loveland, OH US 45140