Robert Charles Goebel

1946 - 2025

Robert Charles Goebel

December 12, 1946 - June 5, 2025

Huntington Beach, California - Robert Charles Goebel ("Bob"), 78, passed away in Huntington Beach, California, on June 5, 2025, from pneumonia and complications from ongoing heart conditions. During his health struggles over the last few years, he was supported tirelessly by his companion of 44 years, Melinda Runnion.

Bob was born in San Francisco, California, in 1946, where he graduated from St. Monica's School in 1960 and St. Ignatius High School in 1964. After serving in the Vietnam War, where he was awarded four medals, Bob returned home to his wife Kathie (Hunt) and twin sons, Kevin and Dennis. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of San Francisco in 1972 and a master's degree in Operations Research from the University of California at Berkeley in 1974 while working nights feeding punch cards into the American Automobile Association's mainframe computers. He would then use the punch cards to create flash cards to teach his sons basic reading and arithmetic.

He moved to Cloverdale, California in 1974, commuting to teach at the College of Marin and work as a computer programmer in Santa Rosa while living eight years "off the grid" on 40 acres of undeveloped land with no electricity...but two outhouses. He divorced in 1982 and married Melinda Runnion in 1983, living in Thousand Oaks, California for a few years before relocating to Lenexa, Kansas, where they lived for nearly three decades.

He was an early adopter of working from home long before most people had home Internet connections or even email. When his granddaughters Lauren and Megan came along, he adjusted his schedule, getting half a day's work done before the crack of dawn so that he could be their primary caretaker during the day.

In 2013, he and Melinda relocated to Huntington Beach, California where in retirement he focused on his hobbies: woodworking, cooking, daily walks while listening to podcasts and audio books, and avidly reading The Atlantic and scientific magazines.

He was loved by all who knew him for his warm heart, subtle witty humor, and deep intellectual curiosity.

He is survived by his wife, Melinda Runnion; his son, Kevin Goebel; stepdaughter Ericka (Brian) Bailie-Byrne; daughter-in-law Michelle Goebel; granddaughters Lauren (Chelsea) King and Megan Goebel; siblings Ray (Robin) Goebel, Tom (Anne) Goebel, and Nancy (Dave) Evans; and a vast extended family. He was preceded in death by his parents, Charles and Lorraine Goebel, by his son Dennis, and by his brothers Dick and Steve.