Robert Eugene Leach

Robert Eugene Leach (Bob) was born December 1, 1935 in Arkansas City, Kansas and passed away August 24, 2024 in Walnut Creek California.
He was born to William Clifford Leach, (known as Grandpa Chick) and Thelma LaVon Leach (known as Grandma Von).
They moved quite a bit during his childhood, due to his Dad being a steam fitter but according to the stories, every place was an adventure.
Being as outgoing and friendly as he was, he made friends at every location. After leaving Arkansas City,Kansas, they moved to Kilgore, Texas,
Joplin, Missouri (where he started school), San Pedro, California, Borger, Texas, Zion, Illinois, Pueblo, Colorado, Paducah, Kentucky
(where he graduated High School), Long Beach, California, Torrance, California (where he met and married the love of his life Beverly Kidwell)
he and Beverly then moved to Long Beach, California where they lived 21 years and finally moved to Walnut Creek, California.
He enjoyed traveling and had visited an impressive 35 states in the US.. He and Beverly also went out of the country and had beautiful vacations
in Mexico, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. He enjoyed motorcycle riding with Beverly. He also loved to take family vacations to places like
Yosemite (one of his all time favorites), the Sequoias, and places like Idyllwild where we would camp with family friends the Isaacson Family and the Stribling family.
He enjoyed the family trips house boating at Lake Shasta and the family trips he took to Hawaii and finally, after Beverly passed away, he traveled to Mexico on
several occasions where he met good friends, and he camped at the Russian River and enjoyed boating at the Sacramento Delta with his best friend Eric Smith.
He was a hard working man who had ethics to live by and a loving caring attitude. He held a handful of jobs during his lifetime. His first job was in
Paducah, Kentucky where he worked at a gas station. While in Paducah he worked at Martin Rosenberger a wall paper store. Before moving from Paducah,
he worked at M.W. Kellog, an Atomic Plant of some sort. Needless to say he only worked there 1 week. He then pursued a career at Douglas Aircraft (Along with his Mom
and his cousin) in Long Beach, California, then transferred to Douglas Aircraft in Torrance California, After Douglas Aircraft he worked for Pacific Telephone/AT&T
in Los Angeles, San Pedro, Wilmington, Torrance, Walnut Creek and then San Francisco where he retired in 1984 with 35 years of service.
He was always working around the house or in the garage. He was able to fix/repair just about anything. He enjoyed doing electrical, was very capable with plumbing, using a hammer and nail,but the most impressive was his ability to work on and repair cars. With that being said, he had a love for cars. During his lifetime he proudly owned and spoke frequently about his vehicles: Green 1940 Ford 2 door sedan, 1948 Ford truck that towed the family trailer to California, in which his Dad gave to him, a yellow 1950 Ford convertible that he had painted black. Black 1949 Cadillac that was Beverly's. they traded it in and Beverly's Dad bought it back, Black and white 1956 Ford Crown Victoria, yellow
1957 Ford Station wagon, red 1959 Volkswagen, green 1961 Volkswagen, Blue 1964 Ford Thunderbird, Brown Panel 1968 Ford Country Squire, yellow 1974 Capri, blue and white
1977 Chevy pickup, 1985 gold Crown Victoria, along with a Toyota pickup, Ford Bronco and a Honda Pilot.
With the wonderful life he led, his biggest gift to his family was the love of music. He would sing a long whenever he heard a song he liked. His range of music was impressive. Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Nat King Cole, Ray Conniff, Jim Croce, Petulia Clark, Abba, Yanni and Patsy Cline to name a few. But the biggest impact was his love for the Beatles. This forever changed his daughters love and appreciation for music. Every Beatles song is a reminder of him. He would take the family to the Cal Store, which was always a fun trip, to purchase the newest Beatle album that had just came out. (he would also buy the girls the latest Barbies while there)
He leaves behind daughter Jackie Luman and husband Roger, daughter Julie Webb and husband Clark., along with Grand children Kyle, Lauren, Holly, Jessica and Milton,
Great Granddaughters Madison and Andrea (who was born 2 days after he passed away), and long time best friend Dona Webb.
He cherished every moment with his grand children and great grand daughter. He will be terribly missed by all of his family and friends....
Aloha Dad
Services
Gathering of Family and Friends
Friday
September 6, 2024
11:00 AM
Redwood Chapel Oakmont Mortuary
2099 Reliez Valley Rd.
Lafayette, CA 94549
Graveside Service
Friday
September 6, 2024
12:00 PM
Oakmont Memorial Park
2099 Reliez Valley Rd.
Lafayette, CA 94549 To plant a beautiful memorial tree in memory of Robert, please visit our Tree Store.