ROBERT E. SINK

ROBERT SINK Obituary

SINK, ROBERT E. June 5, 1917 to Dec. 16, 2010 A group of close friends gathered at San Diego Yacht Club recently in remembrance of Navy Cdr. Robert Elwood Sink, a Pearl Harbor survivor who had lived in Point Loma for more than 60 years. He died at 93 on December 16. Cdr. Sink was a radioman on the battleship California in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, when Japanese warplanes suddenly appeared, dropping torpedoes and bombs and straffing. When the California was sinking, the captain ordered "Abandon ship" and Cdr. Sink and his shipmates went overboard and swam to the safety of Ford Island. After the attack, Cdr. Sink was commisioned as a naval officer and during his 30 years of service he rose to the rank of commander, serving in both World War II and the Korean conflict. Besides the California, he served aboard the battleships New Mexico and Pennsylvania and the destroyers Grayson and Gurke and spent time at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. His brother George (Gus) Sink served with him on the Ca lifornia but was called for secret duties with the government before the Japanese attack. Cdr. Sink was known by his companions as EK, the letters he used to sign off his Morse Code dispatches. EK left the Navy in 1967, joining Computer Sciences Corp. and served that company for seven years. His son Robert Merritt Sink, suffers from Cerebral Palsy, and EK became a member of the United Cerebral Palsy board of directors and its president in the 1980s. He also was active as an amateur "Ham" radioman, taking part in relief efforts when disasters such as earthquakes and tornadoes struck in countries around the world. His call letters were WA6FZQ. Cdr Sink was born in Salisbury, North Carolina, and served in the Civilian Conservation Corps before joining the Navy. Cdr. Sink's ashes were place in a crypt at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery beside those of his wife Bonnie, who died In 1995. The ceremony there was conducted by David Plank, a retired Navy chaplain.The commander is survived by his son, Bob, and a companion, Patricia Swift. His brother, Gus, and his sister, Anne, passed on before him. Donations in his memory may be made to United Cerebral Palsy or the Alzheimer's Society.

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Published by San Diego Union-Tribune on Jan. 30, 2011.

Memories and Condolences
for ROBERT SINK

5 Entries

Richard Lamoureux

January 26, 2025

Still miss you Bob.

Fran Bell Simms

January 30, 2011

My Uncle Eck was the baby boy of my grandmother, Miss Lucy, as he called her. There is a family photo of the full Brandon clan made in about 1920 with Eck nowhere to be seen. Family lore has it that he was hiding in the closet, not wanting to deal with the wait of getting everyone in place.

My grandmother was widowed in 1918 when Spanish influenza claimed her husband. Her resourcefulness led her to use her skills to cook and to sew to keep herself and her trio of young children afloat. She prepared lunch for three sittings of hungry railroad men, who were two blocks away at the Transfer Shed. As her baby boy grew older, he was known for his quick tongue, charm and wit. He was nicknamed "Eck" for "Smart Aleck" in the funny papers. It stuck. Most of the extended family called Robert Elwood, "Eck." I think that precedes the EK as his radio sign off.

He was a wonderful uncle. Though his life was in the Navy and on the west coast, he played a part in our lives with somehow getting east. He was a participant in many weddings, funerals, visits in June for meandering to sites of his favorite North Carolina roots, and extended family. His mother was one of ten. There are many cousins sprinkled in the Piedmont and in the hills. Most recently, he had maintained a close correspondence with his grandniece, Melissa, and her beloved Megan, my mother's only grandchild. The latter is thanx to email

I recall searching the treasures in my grandmother's dining room closet and finding a journal Eck had kept. It was full of wonderful, shaded pencil drawings. Sadly, it was either destroyed or discarded after the 1952 fire gutted my grandmother's house. One Christmas, when visiting, he sat next to me on a sofa and taught me to make sailor cartoons. I was very young. However, that seedling led to many things for me. I was cartoonist for my college paper, and now teach drawing and watercolor in adult education, for fun and funds. Thank you for your gift of time and focus.

Eck gave me my first pair of cowboy boots when I was about six. They are now with my grand niece, Megan, having been bequeath by my brother, George who had them after me. They are about seventy years old, and maybe they should be bronzed. Being a bit of a tomboy when young, Eck gave me some coveralls, a curious gift, but welcome. He liked to celebrate the special nature of persons.

He and his siblings were unique unto themselves, but remained not only kin, but friends over lengthy lifetimes. They each had great endurance, persistence, attention to detail, determination and slathered even the most painful of events with laughter. "Laugh and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone", were words from my grandmother. Their intelligence was recognizable in their work. Not mentioned is the fact that Eck taught the first classes upon the initiation of the computer school for the Navy. It was back in the days of binary and card stock. He taught a two base number system and the logic of formulae to captains and to admirals, alike. He thought that was amusing. His brother George became a diplomat, and his sister, my mother, was the administrative assistant (she would be today) to the head of personnel at Dan River Mills. When she retired, she was replaced by five secretaries and five computers. They were very special.

The last time I recall having the three Sink siblings together was in the summer of 1996, when I celebrated my sixtieth birthday. I flew sister Anne (my mother) to San Diego, and we visited. Gus and Vangie came from Arizona and we had several days of talk, sharing, playing cards capped by a boating excursion in the bay with Eck's neighbors, and dinner at the Yacht Club. It was exquisite. They shared lots of times together in cruising, during their later years. It cemented their bonds, once again.

I did a much better job on this, initially. It got lost with my not knowing the system. All that I said was true and is now in cyberspace. I hope that at least, Eck knows what I said of him!

Come June, portions of the ashes of Eck, Gus and Anne will be mingled as the remaining east coast contingent ferries them to Salisbury, North Carolina and the Chestnut Hill Cemetery. There, we shall scatter their remains upon the grave of Miss Lucy. It is two blocks from the railroad track which played a part in their early lives together. If we are lucky, a train will rumble by and give its comfort.

"I thank my God upon each memory of you" Phillippians I,iii.

Bon voyage, dear heart.

Frannie