Robert Chinn

Robert "Bob" Chinn

Sunrise: January 26, 1924

Sunset: April 8, 2013

When one is loved life is eternal

Robert "Bob" Chinn, a native San Franciscan and long time resident of Oakland, bid his final adieu in his beloved cabin in South Lake Tahoe, on Monday, April 8, 2013, leaving many who knew and loved him deeply saddened. Bob had a full life and at the age of 89 years, succumbed peacefully to a weakened heart.

Bob was an artist of many genres. He was a watercolourist and master ceramist whose style of elegant simplicity and grace was matched equally by the humility and splendour of his gentle character. He was a gardener extraordinaire who listened to the voice of nature to inform and illumine the textures and colours of his multi-layered garden, arranged to both reflect his innate creative aesthetics and the richness of native species. He was a friend whose friendships were tended to with the warmth and nurturance he afforded his gardening.

Bob was born on January 1924, the eldest of two sons and five daughters.

After completing high school and a tour in the merchant marines, Bob worked for the San Francisco Water Department for over thirty years, retiring in 1977.

Bob travelled extensively, nationally and internationally, including an excitedly travelled journey to China, the ancestral birthplace of his parents.

In 1976, he married Althea Schaefer. They have no children. They have dozens of loving years spent, travelling, enjoying Tahoe and adoring one another. Bob is survived by his wife, Althea, his five sisters, Ruth, Ella, Francis, Alice, and Rita, and scores of nieces and nephews. His brother Don Chin preceded him in death, in 2012.

May he rest in eternal peace knowing he was loved by many.

Services for Robert "Bob" Chinn will be held at 12:00PM, on Monday, April 22, 2013, at The Neptune Society Columbarium of San Francisco; located at One Loraine Court * San Francisco, CA 94118.