Robert Coomes

Robert “Bob” Coomes passed away August 11, 2019 in Colorado. He was born October 21, 1928 in Sacramento, California to Egbert and Viola McIntosh/Coomes. Bob was proud of his WWII service in the Navy that included picking up US Marines in Manchuria aboard the USS Chilton and collecting radioactive marine life after the A Bomb Test at Bikini Atoll for the Smithsonian Institution. Bob attended Grant Union High School in Sacramento. In 1956, Bob married Margaret A. Guier. They had 3 children, the twins Richard and Ronald and daughter Debra. In 1959 the Family moved to Las Vegas where Bob went to work at the Nevada Test Site, where he managed the world’s largest hydrogen facility, was the Control Room Operator for nuclear tests, and supervisor of a test crew developing a nuclear engine that would go into outer space. When all his projects at the Test Site were completed at the end of 1969, Bob went to work in the casino industry as an operating engineer in Operating Engineers 501. Bob loved camping, hiking, hunting and raced in the Mint 400. In 1985, he met Margaret “Marge” Nettles. They retired together in 1988, sold their properties, bought an RV, joined Escapees RV Club and started traveling to Canada, Mexico, and the US. In 1998, Bob and Marge flew to Australia, where they bought a campervan, joined an Australia camping club, and spent a year traveling around Australia and Tasmania. From 2000 – 2006 they traveled to Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and the Azores Islands. From 2008 to June 2019, they spent their summers and winters visiting Family and Friends in California, Arizona, Washington, Utah and Colorado. In March of this year, Bob’s health began to deteriorate. In May, Bob and Marge moved to Colorado to live with family. It was the first time Bob and Marge lived in “A Stick Home” and not an RV since 1988. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Dorothy, his brother Ray, his first wife, his daughter Debra, and stepson David. His wife Marge, sons Richard and Ronald, Steve, daughters Michelle and Alicia, grandchildren Katrina, Richard, Jr., Nicolas, Haley, Amelia, Garret, Nick and great-granddaughters Lexi and Graci, survive him.