Robert Francis Michiels

1923 - 2010

Robert Francis Michiels

June 13, 1923 – November 12, 2010

Robert Francis Michiels, "Bob", passed away peacefully at his home with family members at his bedside on November 12, 2010 at the age of 87, after a long battle with cancer. Bob was one of 15 children of Clara Jauquet and Frank Michiels. He grew up in Sugarbush, Wisconsin where he attended the Brick School close to the Michiels Dairy Farm. Bob completed his 8th grade education and would say, "I was second in my graduation class". There were only two students in that 8th grade class!

Bob lived life to its fullest. He worked on the family farm prior to joining the Navy at age 17. He was on Battleship X the South Dakota and survived The Battle of Santa Cruz and Guadalcanal. Bob was a Plankman on the Battleship South Dakota, and on the Aircraft Carrier Boxer. He passed through the Panama Canal four times, twice on the South Dakota and once on the Augusta and on the Boxer. Having crossed the equator via ship he was also a Shellback.

After the war he ran a milk route with his brother Arnie. Bob met his beautiful wife Mary in Green Bay and asked her to follow him to Hollywood where they were married on June 15, 1948 at the Blessed Sacrament Church. They ran several businesses and raised five children in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles. He referred to their children as his winning "full house", three kings and two queens. Bob kept many irons in the fire throughout his life. He owned and operated liquor stores, bars, arcade games, and cattle ranches in California, New Mexico, and Nevada. He was also involved in remanufacturing bowling pins, investing in PVC pipe extruding equipment, Hollywood TV shows, aircraft, land investments, subdivision and housing developments, manufacturing international building materials and raising a hard working family. Bob was an adventurer at heart: cowboy, hunter, trapper, deep sea and freshwater fisherman, pilot, snow skier, and mountain climber. In his late 70's and early 80's Bob climbed Mt Eddy, Mt Shasta, Mt Lassen, Mt Whitney in California, and Mt Fuji in Japan. He loved to entertain and threw big dinner parties for family and friends at his Hollywood, Coarsegold, and Redding homes. These gatherings could last for days, playing cards in Coarsegold, and canning albacore in Hollywood. He was past president of the Hollywood West Hollywood Rotary Club, a member of The Rotary Club of Redding, a member of Saint Joseph's Parish, and the Knights of Columbus, a volunteer at Mercy Medical Center, a member of the Redding Elks, and a member on the Mosquito Abatement District Board of Directors of Shasta County.

Bob always greeted you with a smile and was willing to help out at the drop of a hat. He loved to travel around the world with his wife Mary. Over the years Bob & Mary would travel with Farm Bureau and Rotarian friends, or just with each other. They enjoyed these experiences in their life together throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, Russia, Africa, Canada, Central and South America.

Bob will be missed by his four surviving brothers in Wisconsin, Arnie, Jerry, Don, and Bill, his five children "Tiger" Joe & Susie in Redding, daughter Katherine (John) in San Francisco, son Frank & Terry in Seattle, son Dan in San Francisco, daughter Mary (Chuck) in the Hollywood Hills, 11 grandchildren, and 7 great grandchildren.

A Funeral Mass and a Celebration of Life will be held in 2011 after the busy Christmas Holiday Season.

Please sign the guestbook at http://obituaries.redding.com