Celebrating Bob Myers
 Bob Myers-2018 |
.jpg) High School Graduation-1949 |
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Bob & Donna's Wedding-1954 |
.jpg) Navy-December 1953 |
.jpg) Bob Punching Car-1956 |
CELEBRATING BOB MYERS
By Kae Mattingly
July 2018
This month we celebrate a man who is a hard worker, and involved in his community and church. In his early teen years he worked in a bowling alley setting up pins for a nickel a game. At the age of 13, he played the trumpet in the Town Band. In 1951 he joined the Navy. He graduated 11th in a class of 660 from DeVry Tech. This gentleman was the first Scout Master in Chanceford Township of Pennsylvania. He has traveled to many places. This month we celebrate Bob Myers.
Bob was born September 12, 1931, to Percy and Tonetta Myers, in Red Lion, Pennsylvania, a borough in York County. Red Lion, settled in 1852, was named after one of the first pubs in town, the Red Lion Tavern. When Bob was born the population was about 5,000. He was the first born, followed by two brothers and one sister. Bob was born during the depression (1929-1939), a time when everyone was poor, and there was no welfare. Bob remembers hobos coming around begging for food, asking “Can you fix me a plate of food?” They would even ask for any odd jobs to get food. The ragman came around also, taking rags and metal they would sell later for a little money.
As a young teen in the summer, Bob had to find a job. He worked on a farm hoeing tomatoes and cleaning out cow pens making forty cents an hour. He also set up pins in a bowling alley for five cents a game. When school started he was happy because he didn’t have to work anymore. Bob also trapped muskrats for their hide. He got $1.50 for each one he sold. By age 13, Bob was playing trumpet in the Red Lion High School Band and the Town Band. (This is where he met Donna for the first time.) At school he participated in intramural sports. He played Sandlot Baseball and basketball. Bob’s house was the meeting place for the boys.
Red Lion was a tobacco town. Cigars were made there, and the town smelled like tobacco. Bob’s mom and grandmother made cigars at the factory.
Bob was the first to graduate from Red Lion High School in 1949, followed by Donna, his wife, then Marty, Claire Ann, and Lauren, his children. Bob worked a few odd jobs around town until January 2, 1951, when he and his cousin joined the Navy. They didn’t want to be drafted into the Army. Following Boot Camp he was sent to Little Creek, Virginia to board USS Deuel (named after a county in Nebraska). Come summer time they were loading the ship with heavy gear and jackets. They were headed to Greenland, where Thule Air Force Base was being built. The ship was to provide the civilian workers a place to sleep and get their meals. Bob was part of the Deck Force, working on ship maintenance. One of his jobs was ringing the bell. Due to fogginess, ringing the bell identified the ship’s number and location. Every fifteen minutes he would ring the bell so civilians coming back from working on the Air Force Base would know where the ship was parked. There were icebergs floating around the ship. Smaller boats protected the larger ships from the moving icebergs.
Bob attended Radio School in Bainbridge, Maryland, at the Naval Training Center. Soon he was sent to the Mediterranean, seeing the countries of France, Spain, and Italy. He was on that ship again, but this time it was headed to the Panama Canal, going to the west coast of Japan to pick up returning troops from the Korean War.
On April 10, 1954 Bob and Donna were married. He had a few months left in the Navy. He was discharged on November 30, 1954. Bob enrolled at DeVry Technical School. As a Veteran civilian, he took advantage of the GI Bill and two years later he had an Associate Degree in Electronics. He graduated 11th in a class of 660. After graduation Bob and Donna moved to Collinsville, and lived with Donna’s mother for a short time. In 1960, they purchased an older house built in1868, and refurbish it.
In 1956, Bob took a job as a technician at Bendix Aviation, in York, Pennsylvania, making $300.00 a month. He worked on a Missile Guidance System, and then took it to White Sands, New Mexico to test the missile. After working there for seven years, he was laid off in 1963.
The sixties were a busy time for the Myers. In 1961, Marty was born, 1963 Claire Ann was born, and in 1968 Lauren came along.
Bob started working for AMP, Incorporated, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1963. His commute to work and back home was 100 miles each day. He worked as a technician in Corporate Metrology, calibrating all the testing equipment for the company. He worked there for 22 years. During his time in Harrisburg, PA, Bob served on the Red Lion School Board from 1970-1976. He was the first Scout Master in Chanceford Township, and was the first person to organize Little League in the area. He also found time to hunt and go fishing. He hunted small game (deer and turkey). In 1977, he joined the Red Lion Lodge and in 1982 became the Master of the Lodge.
AMP moved Bob and Donna to Kernersville, in 1985. He worked here as a supervisor until 1994. He started Corporate Metrology from Winston-Salem to Florida.
Bob and Donna joined First Presbyterian Church in Kernersville on August 3, 1986. Bob has served on every committee except Building and Grounds. He chaired the Finance Committee. He was ordained and installed as an Elder on December 31, 1989. He served as an Elder four times (two full terms and two part terms). He sang in the choir for 20+ years.
During retirement he has enjoyed traveling to Europe twice visiting the countries of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France. Bob and Donna enjoyed a ten day trip to Alaska. For the last 43 years they have looked forward to their yearly visit to Nags Head with friends.
Bob has been Worthy Patron for the Kernersville Eastern Star five times, and District Deputy for the 16th district.
BOB IS MOST PROUD OF:
His service to his country and community.
BOB’S WORDS OF WISDOM:
Prepare to be a leader, even though, sometimes you don’t want to be.
 Claire Ann's Wedding-1982 |
 May 1987 |
 First Time to Germany-1988 |
 Retirement Party-1994 |
 Bob with Granddaughter-1995 |
 Bob's 65th Birthday Party-1996 |