Robert Anthony Skrobarczyk

Robert Anthony (Bob) Skrobarczyk Sr., 95, died at Holm Green Center at Brookdale Trinity Towers in Corpus Christi, Texas on July 15, 2024, from natural causes. Bob, as he was known, was a lifelong resident of Corpus Christi.
Bob was born on February 28, 1929, at home in the Hillcrest Neighborhood, Corpus Christi, Texas to parents, Marie Kloesel and Adolph Skrobarczyk Sr. He was delivered by Dr. William Calvert Barnard. The cost was $25.00. He was the fourth of four brothers who he loved, Charles, Bill, Louis and Junior.
He attended Primer, 1st and 2nd grades at Incarnate Word Academy where classes were held at Captain Mifflin Kenedy's home on Upper Broadway at the location where the Corpus Christi Cathedral now stands. The Kenedy home had been donated to the Catholic Church for use as a parochial school in 1925. He attended 2nd through 6th grades at C. W. Crossley Elementary School which opened in 1926 at 2512 Koepke, one block north of Interstate 37. He attended 7th through 9th grades at Driscoll Jr. School completing coursework on May 24, 1945, and grades 10th through 12th at Corpus Christi High School graduating the Class of May 24, 1948. Corpus Christi High School is now Miller High School. Bob always looked forward to his high school reunions to visit with his classmates throughout the rest of his life.
Bob grew up working in his father's automotive service center, Adolph's Garage. His father had worked for Ford Motor Company assembling Model T's in Luling, Texas in 1919 and opened a service department, Port City Garage, in Corpus Christi in 1920. In 1927 Adolph's Garage was opened and operated for the next 52 years. As a young teenager, Bob taught older mechanics how to replace kingpin bushings on truck front ends. He had a mechanical prowess that came to him naturally.
In high school he studied Machine Trades and accumulated 1,080 hours instruction in addition to his academic curriculum. As part of the machine trades class, he ordered rough cast parts for a metal shaper from a company in St. Louis, Missouri. In the class, he machined the rough cast parts and assembled the piece of equipment. The project extended past the close of the school year and, needing the school's machine equipment to complete the project, the instructor, Mr. Kenneth Shell, opened the facility during the summer to allow Bob to complete the piece of equipment. Mr. Shell told Bob he had never had a student take on such an ambitious project and was so impressed that he took a photograph of the completed work. The piece of equipment is still functional to this day. Bob received his Occupational Training Certificate for this course of study on May 8, 1947.
He played high school football for a while but decided, on his own, that his dad needed help in his business and so he informed the coach, to the coach's dismay, that he was leaving the squad. The coach told him that Bob could not quit and that he, the coach, would make that decision. Bob said it was his decision, not the coaches to make.
One high school sport he did continue to pursue was boxing. At that time, boxing was a high school sport. They had classes where the students would put on the gloves and go a few rounds. Bob enjoyed training with his brother Louis, who at this time was already boxing professionally. He said he and Louis ran 2 and 2/10ths of a mile every day, "roadwork" as they called it. He and Louis were sparring partners also. Bob boxed in the High School finals and decisioned in the 156 - pound class. There was one of the matches that Bob participated in in high school, where the opponent would approach, and Bob would punch and push him away as the floor was slippery wet. The opponent became frustrated and challenged him to a fight outside of the school. It was agreed that they would meet at the 1948 Golden Gloves match. When the night came for the Golden Glove match, his brother Louis, who was operating as his trainer, said the high school challenger didn't show up, but there was another challenger available who was "a little heavier" but Louis said he could take him. Bob K.O.'d the opponent and the Corpus Christi Times reported "Kayo Spices Hot Amateur Ringfest."
As a youth and adult, he loved to deer hunt and fish. His Uncle Felix Skrobarcek taught him how to deer hunt and fish, and Bob told many memorable stories of him and his Uncle Felix and cousins Calvin and Melton in their youth hunting and fishing. Bob's dad was not a hunter, but his dad's brothers, Uncle's Frank and Vincent, coaxed his dad into going on a hunt where his dad harvested his first and only deer in 1943. The story goes that his dad was wearing his white coveralls for work sitting in the tree as he was instructed by his brothers to sit in. A deer came up looking at the large figure in white coveralls as if trying to understand what it was seeing, and Bob's dad shot it. Bob has proudly displayed the photo of his dad with his one and only deer and enjoyed telling the story many times over the years. Bob spent much time hunting and fishing with his brother Louis, and later in life Bill. He still has his first hunting license he purchased on September 18, 1948, for $2.00. He told stories about riding his bicycle to Chapman Ranch to hunt geese during WWII. Just prior to the beginning of rationing of ammunition at the onset of WWII, Bob purchased many boxes of shotgun and rifle shells. When hunting at Chapman Ranch, the Navy sailors hunting there would purchase shotgun shells from Bob so they could hunt.
He taught his sons how to shoot, hunt and fish and spent many hours with them on those activities. There were deer leases in George West on the Nueces River, and outside Nixon, TX that were shared with his brother Bill and cousins William, Philip and John. Many memorable hunting trips were enjoyed. There were also many deer stories that were told time and again to his sons and nephews, who never tired of hearing them. There were fishing trips with a neighbor, Mr McKensie where stringers of 55 sand trout were caught.
Most fishing trips with his sons began with the boat behind the pickup headed to the boat ramp at the Intracoastal bridge. The trips always started with Bob asking a series of questions about items the sons were responsible for placing in the boat. Do you have your fishing licenses? Did you get the bait bucket? Did you get the stringers? Did you get the tacklebox? Did you get the gigs? Forgetting an item usually meant turning around and retrieving it, and it was his way of holding the sons accountable for preparing for the fishing trip. Some of the favorite trips were gigging flounder at night and setting up a light rig with a generator at the Bulkhead where the Intracoastal meets the Bay and fishing all night.
The summer between his junior and senior years in high school, 1947, he passed the Coast Guard & Maritime requirements with all three endorsements, Ordinary Wiper and Food, and signed with Standard Oil Company on the SS Harrison Smith tanker hauling 300,000 barrels of oil from Harbor Island, Port Aransas to Bayonne, New Jersey. He had done so to accompany his brother Louis on the voyage. When they arrived in New Jersey, Louis was in a hurry to return to Texas, so they spent most of their earnings from the voyage traveling back to Texas.
After graduating from High School on May 28, 1948, he was hired as a mechanic at Hudson Corpus Christi Motors where he worked until 1951.
Bob was drafted into the US Army on January 21, 1951, and sent to White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico where he was attached to the 169th Signal Construction Company. During his service time, he received ten weeks of instruction at Camp Chaffee Arkansas 5th Armored Division Motor Mechanics School. During the mechanics instruction at Camp Chaffee, there was a test where the instructors would disable Army vehicles in various ways and the trainees had to determine the problem and repair it. Bob tried starting the test vehicle presented to him without success, opened the hood, checked for fuel and found it was good, checked for spark at the plugs, found none, discovered a coil wire had been pulled slightly from the distributor, reset the wire and started the vehicle within a few minutes. Test passed. All others struggled to find the problems and correct their vehicles. He received his course completion certificate on April 5, 1952.
While at White Sands his mechanical prowess and trustworthiness was recognized. He and one other service man were trusted with a mission to drive a truck to California and pick up a Douglas Rocket missile launch trailer platform and return it to White Sands. It would take two days to get to the manufacturer in California and two days return trip back to White Sands. He told about sleeping in the truck at night next to some railroad tracks and waking in the night hearing a train and seeing its oncoming light. He got up to confirm they were clear of the tracks. They were OK. He talked about the return trip, that while driving through the mountains, the missile platform trailer started to slide towards the cliff side as they went around a curve. He was able to brake the truck/trailer to where he regained control. He noted his concern about the consequences of losing that rocket launch platform off the side of the mountain.
During his time in the Army, when it came to drinking alcohol, he became known as "one beer Skro" because he always, and only, drank one beer. He continued that habit for the rest of his life.
After his two-year obligation to the US Army, he was honorably discharged at the rank of Sargeant on January 25, 1953, and remained in-active-duty Army Reserve for six years.
Bob always said that the most important part of his life was meeting and marrying the love of his life. At that time in his life, Bob was living at Odem's Boarding House and attended a Catholic Youth Club in an old building near the Corpus Christi Cathedral. The meetings had a boxing ring in the back yard where priests would show up for the fights. Bob's brother, Charles, was President of the club and at a meeting he told him he had two gals he wanted to introduce to him, Ann and Adele Matula. Bob told Charles "I'll talk to them a little bit". One of Bob's friends, David Hoelscher said "let's go on a double date". Bob said "I'll take the tall one" so they went on a date. It was late in the year and deer season was about to end, so Bob went hunting for New Years. When Ann saw him next, she asked where he was on New Years. Bob said he had been spotlighting deer under oak trees near the Welder McCan Ranch with his Uncle Felix. Ended up with a deer in the back of a '39 Nash after midnight and he was dead tired, so he wasn't going out. Told her he shot the deer with his 45 caliber, semi-automatic rifle. (His Uncle Felix called it Bobby's machine gun.) Driving home he fell asleep and rear-ended a paint truck. No liability insurance. Bob offered $5 for damage to the painter's vehicle. Painter accepted. Bob and Ann continued dating, they didn't have to tell their parents. Bob did not know Ann was one year older than him. On January 15, 1955, Bob and Ann were married at the Corpus Christi Cathedral. They lived for a short time in a rental house on Harvard Street near Spohn Hospital.
After his time in the Army, he decided to pursue another industry – construction. In 1953, he started working building houses in Kingsville TX for one year. His next career move was joining the Carpenters Union. Because of the skill set he had already obtained; he completed his two-year apprenticeship in six months. Both he and Louis started working for O.J. Beck and Son Construction Company. He worked his way rapidly up the ranks from carpenter, to carpenter foreman, to project superintendent, building schools, hospitals, multi-story buildings and housing projects. He had an exceptional command of spatial relationships and could build with a high level of precision. Because of his machine trades training, if there was a tool he needed for a specific task that was not available, he would make the tool himself.
Since it was the time of the baby boom, his construction projects included numerous schools; an eight-classroom addition and music hall in Bishop TX, Oak Elementary in Rockport, Windsor Park and Central Park Elementary in Corpus Christi. He assisted Mr. Beck Sr. in building the original SS. Cyril & Methodius School & Convent. He built a fuel and anti-freeze testing facility, a limestone unloading facility with a new railhead, and assisted in constructing a chrome plant, all for Pittsburgh Plate Glass (PPG). He constructed the Robstown Housing project. There was the Jury Room Annex to the County Courthouse that included a cast-in-place concrete hyperbolic paraboloid roof deck that he and his crews formed and placed the concrete. But if a builder has a landmark project, Bob's was Spohn Hospital Shoreline.
Bob started building the James R. Dougherty School of Nursing Building at Spohn Hospital in 1954 and proceeded over the next twenty-two years to build and renovate Spohn Shoreline at Third Street and Ayers. A second five floor Annex in 1961, increasing the bed capacity to 300 with 50 bassinets while adding and enlarging many other facilities; the Rachel Vaughn Radiation Therapy Center with a two story 16-bed addition on the south side of the main building in 1964; remodeling the administrative and office areas and adding an intensive care unit in 1966; the 1968, 145 bed five floor addition on the top of the 1961 five floor Annex. In the 70's, the work included a doctors parking garage and Nuclear Medicine addition. He knew the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word well partly because of the years building their facility, and partly because all six of his children were born at Spohn Hospital. His three daughters, Cecilia, Lois & Loretta both worked at Spohn Hospital in high school & college, his son Damian worked for him on the hospital and Bob Jr. worked for Lanphier Construction on the Sarita Kennedy East Addition during college.
Bob enjoyed his work in the construction industry. He had good relationships with subcontractors and vendors. He was once described by an electrician he worked with, Ben Schuette, as "tough, but fair". He put his construction expertise to use on all of his children's homes, either new construction, addition or renovations, he was always available and ready to help. He was affectionately referred to as Bob the Builder as he possessed the understanding of how to complete nearly any job. Even at 77 years old, Bob served as project supervisor and laborer to help his grandson build his Eagle Scout project at St. Pius Catholic School in 2006. Working side by side in the South Texas summer, he helped hand dig a slab form, pour concrete, and build a drinking water fountain.
In 1976, Bob got the entrepreneurial urge to start his own business, so he parted ways with the construction industry and returned to his roots by opening an auto service department along with sales of power and wind generators at 3544 S.P.I.D. naming it Bob's Sales and Service (then later named Bob's City Garage) Bob and Ann purchased property and built a building and a business together with their sons, Joe and Damian working alongside them. Serving the clients of the community, developing relationships and dealing with folks as well as some real south Texas characters (with names like O'Malley, Captain Underhill, Malachy, just to name a few) was a good fit for Bob's propensity to help people fix their vehicle woes, to do whatever it took to make a repair happen, and was an act to behold. Being an expert machinist, welder, and metallurgist meant he would build a tool or fix/modify a car or piece of equipment as necessary. It's where he provided his sons with a living example of how to strive to get the job done the right way with long business days- Monday through Saturday 8am until 6pm. In 1991, Bob turned the business over to his sons and retired, but continued to show up every day for many years to help by running for parts and performing a difficult task such as removing a stripped bolt or making a part that was unavailable.
Bob and Ann bought two lots from the Mokry's who lived at 4908 Hakel. Bob built their new home at 4910 Hakel. There they raised their six children, Cecilia, Damian, Lois, Loretta, Bob Jr. and Joe. For their children, twelve grandchildren, and many great grandchildren the home was the family gathering spot for holidays and celebrations. Bob and Ann filled the home with cherished fixtures including the dusty chalkboards used to notate years of family sausage making, the industrial dual-griddled waffle maker, and home-built outdoor swing set which faithfully serves generations of Skrobarczyks. The home's giant backyard during spring and summer months held family barbecues, Easter Egg hunts, and renowned gardens producing tomatoes, okra, cabbage, green beans, and onions.
Bob, though, had three food passions - sausage, preferably venison and pork, muscadine grape jelly and pecans. While he enjoyed hunting deer, he enjoyed making sausage just as much. He built a smoke house in the back yard and his expectations every fall, when deer season arrived and a cold front coming, he was thinking and planning on making sausage. Early on there would be a purchase of a live hog to process, but as time went on, he would be shopping HEB for pork butt. And if you were making sausage with him, you season AFTER you grind, not before. Picking wild grapes was a tradition for him. He picked the grapes, and Ann made the jelly. He loved nothing more than sitting in front of a big bowl of pecans, with his Texan nutcracker, and shelling pecans for an hour or more.
Bob's faith was central to his life and was evident in his lifelong membership at Ss. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church and active participation in the Knights of Columbus Council 1202. He and Ann began and ended each day at the foot of their bed, kneeling in prayer, as well as beginning and ending every meal with prayer, attending mass and receiving the sacraments as regularly as breathing, until the day he died.
He was a Third-Degree lifetime member of the Knights of Columbus Council 1202. He entered the organization along with all four of his brothers on the same day. He served in various positions over the years and developed many friendships with the Knights.
Bob was predeceased by his spouse of 64 years, Ann Matula Skrobarczyk, daughter Loretta Ctvrtlik, brothers Charles, William Sr. (Bill), Louis Sr., and Adolph Sr. (Junior).
Bob leaves behind a legacy of love and dedication, survived by his children Cecilia Greene (Reed), Damian Skrobarczyk (Gail), Lois Morris (Robert), Bob II Skrobarczyk (Caaren), Joe Skrobarczyk (Kristi), and son-in-law Tom Ctvrtlik. He is also remembered fondly by his grandchildren, Marissa(Chris) Fraser, Marilyn (Scriven) Hoefs, Rosalind (Gillis) Schwartz, Ryan (Kaili) Skrobarczyk, Caitlin (Daniel) Parrott, Kelsey (Sam) Collard, Suzanne Ctvrtlik, DeeDee, Gabe, Jessica, Robby and Claire Skrobarczyk, along with great-grandchildren, Connor and Margaret Skrobarczyk, David and Robert Fraser, Anna and Catherine Schwartz, Reed and Remington Hoefs, and Frederick Parrott as well as many cousins, nephews, nieces and their families who carry forward his values and cherished memories.
Bob's family would like to thank his caregivers, including Janka Aufreiter, DeeDee Skrobarczyk, Nikola Tajchman, the staff of Brookdale Holmgreen, as well as his Pastor F. James Vasquez, Nephew Fr. Paul Hesse, numerous visiting priests, relatives, neighbors and friends.
Bob Skrobarczyk Sr. will be deeply missed by all who knew him, remembered for his maverick nature, resilience, and unwavering devotion to faith, family and community.