My name is David S. Samsel. I am Norma’s “baby” brother.  When Norma and Bob got married on Thanksgiving Day of 1937, I was 3 years old and became 4 years old in January of 1938. Dixie was born in August 1938. So, I have known Bob for virtually all my life. I have great memories of riding in the rumble seat of his coupe (I think it was a ’36 Ford).

 In early fall of 2008, my wife Jeanne and I were visiting them and I asked Bob when he first noticed Norma and he told me that at age 13 (Norma was 12) he decided he was going to marry her.  Theirs was an enduring and loving relationship that I have not seen anywhere else.

Bob always had a mischievous streak: he had a magneto in his car that he would switch on so that the unsuspecting would get a rude surprise when touching the door handles, he also would gleefully put a couple of handfuls of wet sand in my swimming  trunks when the family was at the beach when I least suspected it! Much later, in 1955, I remember riding to South Bend, Indiana with him. He had rigged up an air compressor and big rig truck horns in his car. US 20 was a 4 lane divided highway with a 55 speed limit. We were in the fast lane and somebody ahead of was really driving slow, but one blast of those air horns and that vehicle moved promptly to the slow lane (their heart probably skipped a beat!).

In WWII Bob hopscothed all over the Pacific and ended up in Japan on Occupation duty. While there he hand built a motor scooter and toured Hiroshima, taking many memorable photographs of the utter destruction from the Atomic Bomb blast. He also helped raid an untouched  Japanese Army Armory and grabbed an Arisaka 7.7 rifle in mint condition and a sword, then promptly mailed them home. While the war was still on, he was on a Troop Ship that was hit by a Kamikaze (suicide bomber) that plunged thru the top deck and out the side of the ship without detonating. Truly God’s grace was with him. I would hope that the rifle and sword mentioned above would become family heirlooms to be treasured in Bob’s memory. Also someone should try to locate the photographs mentioned because they are WWII history.

I will always remember his talents: home builder (he built 2), an excellent cabinet maker and vehicle mechanic. When their house was being built in Ft. Myers, he was constantly checking the workmanship of the house and informing the contractor of any discrepancies. He was so thorough that the contractor hired him to be trouble shooter to fix anything that needed correction in houses already built.

When Bob first went into business in an American Oil Filling Station franchise with a partner, he rightfully decided that his partner was dragging down the business and bought him out. This was in 1955. Norma and Bob were in hock up to their ears, but Bob put in 12 and more hours a day for a 7 day work week. His talents, hard work and integrity built up a thriving business that had at least 6 employees. He had 6 pumps (if my memory serves me), but he was pumping more gas than a company owned Station out on the freeway that had 16 pumps. By the time he sold the business in 1967 (American Oil demanded a veto on any buyer they deemed not a good fit); he had over $50,000.00 (1967 dollars) worth of equipment he had purchased for the business and was debt free. What an accomplishment in 12 years! He and Norma had been taking a Christmas vacation to Florida for probably 5 years and they decided to move to Florida upon selling the business.

I just wanted to apply some history so that his posterity would have even greater love and respect than they already have.

This isn’t a goodbye to Bob as I know I’ll see him later.