Robert Anthony McDonnell

After a long and happy life, Robert (Bob) McDonnell passed into heaven on February 15th, 2023. He went exactly as he had hoped: peacefully at home among family. Those two things, Home and Family were everything to Bob. He of course had other things he loved like attending church, pets, or giving unexpected gifts. While those things brought him much joy, family and home were the center of what made him happy.
Bob entered the world on May 27th, 1936 at Providence Hospital in Oakland, CA. He was the second child born to Francis and Ruth McDonnell. He was preceded by his older brother Frank and then followed soon after by his brother Paul and little sister Ruth Anne.
Bob's childhood growing up in Oakland had all the signs of a life well lived. He attended St. Bernard's Elementary School in Oakland. He participated as an altar boy. He enjoyed doing things as a cub scout and later a boy scout. He owned and cared for a pet canary, Dickey. Dickey looked like a misfit with missing tail feathers but Bob cared for him like nothing else. He truly loved that bird. If you knew Bob, 2 things were central to his personality: Teasing and mischief. He had a joy of climbing things like trees much to his mother's chagrin. She would yell for him to come down but he'd wait her out because she couldn't climb up after him. Later he'd climb from the tree onto the roof and then into his room. To avoid punishment, he'd hide. Eventually his mother would come in and she'd see his shoes sticking out from beneath the bed only to grab them and find that the shoes were empty. Bob was hiding in the closet up on the shelf. He would tell us tales of riding a bicycle with his brother Paul on the handlebars and going down the steep hills of Oakland, only to get scared and jump off the bike, leaving his brother to the whims of fate. He attended St. Elizabeth's High School where he may not have been the greatest of students but he was a hard worker and graduated in 1954.
When the cold war began he enlisted in the Air force and began his service to the country on October 16, 1958. He was stationed in Klamath Falls, Oregon and Thule, Greenland. He was Honorably discharged on April 17th, 1962. Bob returned to Oakland and on April 13th, 1966 he took a job at the Richmond warehouse of Safeway Grocery Stores as a warehouseman. This would eventually become the job he would hold for 26 years.
With his career path in place he set out to fulfill his desires for family and home. He met Patricia McKinder with whom he would build his family. They were married on August 6th, 1966. Robert Jr. was born shortly after followed by Thomas and Joseph. In 1973 they purchased a home in Fremont that would be where they would raise their family. He worked multiple jobs to put his sons in private schools, as well as to allow them to play organized sports. He would often talk of those days being the best in his life. In 1991 he and Patricia divorced and he decided shortly after to retire from Safeway. He took jobs as a security guard to keep himself busy and he befriended Joyce Shaw, who would become his best friend and companion. You always knew when they were together because they fought like cats and dogs but they really were the closest of friends.
Eventually as their health began to decline, Bob moved in with his son Tom and his family in 2015. He would tell people it was "the best decision I could've ever made". He loved being in a home surrounded by family and his health improved. He was a faithful parishioner of Church of the Assumption in San Leandro, where he loved to attend services with his sister Ruth Anne and made many friends.
While Bob loved to tease, he had a generous soul and he found the perfect union with gold dollar coins. He loved to give them to people to say thank you or to make them feel special. What he really loved was the confused look on their faces when they thought it was fake or didn't know what to make of it. Over time he made it a point to give out many of those coins.
He is survived by his sister, Ruth Anne, his sons, Robert Jr, Thomas, Joseph, daughters-in-law, Christina and Heather, grandchildren, Joshua, Amber, Robert III (Robby), Klani, Alex, Alyssa, Jacob, Jenna, Brooklyn, and great-grandchildren, Aubriana, Ryleigh, Joshua Jr., and Hayden.
Visitation and rosary to be held at Church of the Assumption in San Leandro March 2nd, 2023 at 10AM with funeral mass at 11AM. Burial to follow at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.