A wine before its time

Nevada lost another good man recently, and I lost a good friend as well. Bob Wilson lost his battle with cancer and passed away quietly surrounded by his family. For his family, friends, and me, he was like the wine he loved to make, gone before it should have been his time.

In preparing for this article, Bob's family graciously passed on to me many of their stories and memories of Bob. As with any good family man like Bob, there was both sadness and happiness in these stories.

The first thing that impressed me from his family's recollections, was the fact that Bob was such a family man in reality. His children and grandchildren were at the center of his life. "He was very involved in our activities, he coached little league baseball...." "My brother Bob remembers daddy coming to his football practices everyday at 3:30 p.m." In later years, "he was always at every game his grandchildren participated in."

His family also related that Bob was very generous. He had grown up in a time when he had not had much money, and he loved being able to give more to his family in later years.

His family remembered that Bob was always a sportsman. In high school Bob played in most varsity sports. His track team won the Kansas State Championship his senior year.

In later years when Bob moved to Nevada, he played men's fast pitch softball on Farm and Home and Davison's traveling team.

But it was Bob's fascination and love of another sport that his family and many of us will remember most about him. Bob loved the game of golf, and was a well known figure in that sport locally for many years. His daughter related this story: "In 1960, he borrowed Bob Bell's clubs and played two rounds with Jay Stafford (our neighbors) and Keith Brown. All three joined the club that year.... They had no carts at that time, they just walked each round. I remember he won some sort of a tournament early on and because Daddy was so competitive in sports he continued to play in tournaments the rest of his life."

Another important person in Bob's life was Bob Walster. Bob moved here to head the Thornton National Bank in 1973. They became life long friends and golfing companions. They also used to spend a lot of time in other sporting pursuits like hunting.

In visiting with Bob Walster, I came away with a new insight about Bob Wilson. As Walster told me, "I never had anyone in my life that was easier to get along with than Bob Wilson. It was his personality that made him so easy to be around."

Our conversation made me realize a very unique truth about Bob Wilson. He was one of those rare individuals, that everyone seems to like and feel comfortable around.

A few months back, I wrote a column about the passing of Norma Broome. I noted in that article, that to her friends, Norma was the center of their group. She was the one they all turned to as their best friend.

After talking to Bob Walster, I realized that Bob Wilson was the same sort of person. In all the years I knew Bob, I never knew of anyone who did not just like Bob, they "really" liked Bob.

There is another thread of connection that Bob Wilson had with some of the other influential people I have known and written about. He had a special smile. Now some may say we all have smiles, so what is so special about that?

My answer is simple, there are smiles and there are smiles. In all the years I knew Bob, he always had a very special smile. It was as if he was privy to some special joke that I did not have a clue about. I came to realize that the smile was just a part of who he was, a man who loved life and people. That is how you earn a smile like that.

I got to know Bob when I took up the game of golf in the early 80s. He, and another friend of his, Tom Bremmerkamp, were two of the better golfers I knew. Now my golf swing back then was terrible as it remains today. That never bothered Bob. He patiently played with me without complaint. He seemed to enjoy the game regardless of the quality of his playing partners.

Making wine came to Bob late in life. His family told this story. "After they moved to the farm in Croweburg (this was after retirement from 3M), mom and dad established a small vineyard. They decided to try and make some wine. The first year it was too sour, but Bob kept notes and improved each year. Mom just harvested this years grapes last week. Guess we will try to keep the tradition going."

Bob would be very proud to know that his vineyard was going to keep producing wine. It was his wine that gave me one of my last and favorite memories of Bob.

Bob had made some wine from the blackberries that Shirold Moore raised. Shirold and I tried to make some wine ourselves, but it too did not turn out too well. Bob gave me a bottle last year before his illness was discovered.

Mike Cragin and I were working on a golf tournament (Bob actually played in this tournament too). One evening we decided to try the wine. It was as Mike can attest, some of the best wine I have ever tasted in my life. We were amazed, and I had asked Bob if he would help us make some of our own the next year.

As his family and anyone else who knew Bob would tell you, his answer was predictable. Bob promised to do all he could to help us. You see Bob Wilson was like a fine wine. He will remain like a good bottle of wine, on the shelves of our memory cellars forever. Cheers Bob!