While I wish my memory was more efficient, I'll stumble along and trust that Bob would forgive any lapses: We moved to Mtn. Lakes in the fall of 1957 so that seems like the year we first met. His father had passed but, living near to Bob, I spent a lot of time at his house and also became friends with his mother, sister, Jill and brother, BJ. We remained close throughout high school and I credit Bob with being the first person to break the 100 mile per hour limit with me in the car! It was his first Corvette, probably a late 50's model, that we took out on a newly constructed Route 80 and, with the top down, me riding shotgun and Jimmy Dressel more or less sitting on my shoulders Bob efficiently ran it through the gears while we all watched the speedometer till our goal was accomplished. It was both exhilarating and freezing cold! Bob was also the first person I knew to blow an engine... seems like that was in a white, 1962, 409 Chevy and, to top that off, he did it again a year or so later. We shared numerous classes, most notably Mechanical Drawing (where we all first witnessed his artistic talent) and Spanish, where we managed to learn enough to carry on a conversation. After high school we went our separate ways briefly, but reconnected when he worked summers at A&M Fox Hill Esso on the corner of Intervale Rd. and Route 46 and I worked at Fisher Brothers Shell Station a mile east on the other side of the highway. A few years apart and our "adult" friendship began when he was starting his business in an office he shared with Steve Guyette and I bought my uncles' insurance agency on the other end of Main St. Boonton and we all hung out together every chance we had. Over the years we'd occasionally, though temporarily, lose track of each other but Steve would always find a way for us to reconnect, like when we went through our dirt bike riding years and, most recently, when we started having fairly regular lunches together, talking about the old days, our ailments and our children for hours on end (did you know that Bob had 4 perfect children... he told us so on a regular basis)? Our last get-together was in the early summer and included a very sorry attempt at sharing a conversation in Spanish, but "Roberto" outshined me so much that I finally gave up. And so, with a sadness that actually hurts, I share our history and, with deepest condolences, especially to his family, share the loss of a great friend. Doug Blanchard