Bobby Alonzo Inklebarger
Bobby Alonzo Inklebarger went to be with his maker February 27, 2018 at age 84.
He was reunited with family who had preceded him, including his grandparents Alonzo and Lillie Bertha, parents Earl and Lorene, brother Don and son-in-law Robert Durnil. Bobby was born November 29, 1933 near the town of Branch, AR. His family lived on a farm as share croppers.
The first born of three children, Bobby helped his parents with all their farming duties including planting and harvesting, plowing the fields and milking the cows. Bobby also grew up with a natural mechanical aptitude, working on automobiles, tractors and trucks. He utilized these skills throughout his adult life. In 1951 he married Patricia Carroll in California and they had three children.
Bobby had two satisfying careers. First he enlisted in the Air Force in 1952, completing training as an airplane mechanic and later a flight engineer. He made 131 combat flight missions during the Vietnam War before retiring after 22 plus years in 1975.
Bob began his second career that same year at Centrilift, an oil pump equipment company. He started as a field service technician and later was promoted to manager at Huntington Beach, Ca. In 1981 he was relocated to Claremore, OK to create and teach a field service course. Later he worked as a test engineer. Although Bob retired in 1992 he worked eight more years as a consultant for Centrilift.
Bob and Pat became full time RVers in 1993 and travelled to Canada and made many trips to see relatives in Nevada, California and Washington. In 2003 they gave up life on the road to live in Spokane Valley, WA near family. Bob’s interests included golfing, playing acoustic guitar and following all things weather related and NASA. Bob was always willing to help family, friends and neighbors. One of his greatest pleasures was to share his expertise and knowledge with others.
Bobby is survived by Patricia, his wife of 66 years, siblings Fran Browning and Teena Inklebarger, his three children, Stephen (Ina), Mark and Michele Durnil, daughter-in-law Valerie, granddaughters Katheryn, Michele, Sharon and Christina, great grandchildren Ethan, Isabella, Ocean, Cohen and Eden, sister-in-law Sandy and aunt Luella Koontz.
A committal service will be held March 5th at 2:15 pm at the Washington State Veterans Cemetery in Medical Lake, WA.
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