Robert Verkest

Robert Allen "Bob" Verkest, age 85, entered into eternal life on November 21, 2025. Born on September 7, 1940, in Detroit to Albert and Bernice Verkest, young "Bobby" was beloved by his eight brothers and sisters, and always managed to charm the Sisters at Assumption Grotto Elementary School into giving him extra food or excusing him from class to serve a funeral Mass.

Bob attended several high schools, paying his Notre Dame tuition by taking on three paper routes. He learned electrical and carpentry skills at Cass Tech before graduating from Pershing. He spent summers at the Guiliani foundry with his lifelong friend and Best Man Amos, casting carnival statues and kewpie doll piggy banks, before taking a job at Burroughs repairing accounting machines. But the biggest event of Bob's life came when he met Rosemary Clancy on a Woodward Avenue bus. The two married at Precious Blood Church on May 12, 1962, and drove their Ford Fairlane 500 out to Utah. After time in Salt Lake City, Utah, Rock Springs, Wyoming, and Peoria, Illinois, and three daughters later, Bob and Rose moved back to the Detroit area, where they had another daughter and then a son-proudly painting "It's a Boy" in large letters on the garage door.

Always a problem solver, Bob had a long and distinguished career in a variety of sales, management, and training positions. Over the course of several decades, he worked with dozens of clients to "help people seek better ways of reacting to the challenges of change," as he put it. He held professional and management positions with Burroughs and Unisys before becoming a senior consultant with Prism Performance Systems. He then worked as an independent contractor, developing his own training materials and specializing in conflict resolution.

Bob had several "happy places" throughout his life. He enjoyed his garage on Brookshire in Sterling Heights, where he tinkered with cars, fixed record players, and built things. He loved Roger's City, Michigan, where he had camped as a boy. He would drive Rosemary and the children every summer in the Volkswagen Van (accompanied by the eight-track music of Kris Kristofferson, Captain and Tenille, or The Carpenters) and set up his specially-crafted pop-up trailer with its custom-made storage drawers before settling down to a campfire with hobo pies and ghost stories. And he loved to spend time in his "Man Cave" at the wonderful cottage he built in Six Lakes, Michigan. He and Rosemary lovingly hosted their children and grandchildren at the cottage for over thirty years and, in later years, enjoyed time with their "neighbors," daughter Sue and husband Jeff.

In a spirit of adventure he inherited from his reading of Jack London and Zane Grey and his delight in old Westerns, Bob enjoyed exploring new places. He took many trips to Las Vegas with Rose or his brother-in-law Derwood; spent time out West with his son Steve; explored California with his daughter Peggy and her children; traveled to Great Britain with his daughter Kathy; took a solo trip to Australia; and made numerous trips to Virginia and New Hampshire to visit his daughter Amy and her family.

Nothing can come close to capturing Bob's love for his grandchildren, or to chronicling the love he and Rose put into making sure that every family celebration was full of good food, laughter, and love. Bob delighted in puns, jokes, storytelling, and made-up games (like "Mr. Money Bucks"), and he was a great tease. He had a beautiful voice, rich and mellow even to the end; he could belt out "I Believe" better than Elvis or "Sunday Morning Coming Down" better than Johnny Cash. Nobody could even come close to his annual rendition of "Happy Birthday" for every child and grandchild.

Devoted father to Peggy, Kathy (Chuck), Susan (Jeff), Amy (William), and Steve (Becky); cherished brother to Tom, Suzanne (late Derwood), and Karen; proud grandfather to Courtney (Aeryn), Elizabeth, Anthony (Emily), Michael (Haley), Helena (Michael), Mary, Catriona, Will, Ben, Wendy, Shane, Jamieson, and great-grandfather to eight beautiful great-grandchildren, Bob was predeceased by his parents, Albert and Bernice, his wife, Rosemary, and his siblings Marlene, Beverly, Bill, Ricky, and Maryanne.

In recent years, grieving over the passing of Rosemary and challenged by the gradual loss of his eyesight and health, Bob was sustained not only by the help of his nearby children but by a group of adoring neighbors and most especially his loving caregiver and friend Ruth Turner. He spent hours each day enjoying his cigar and reflecting on his life-which he had divided into six chapters-in prayer and gratitude. The longest and richest chapter was the fifty-nine years he spent in marriage with Rosemary, raising children and enjoying grandchildren, traveling, spending time at the cottage, or just enjoying a quiet evening game of Rummikub or Scrabble together.

As Bob's favorite actor, John Wayne, says in The Cowboys, "Death can come for ya any place, any time. It's never welcomed. But if you've done all you can do, and it's your best, in a way I guess you're ready for it." Bob was ready for his final chapter, which now becomes his first chapter: his birth into eternal life. So Happy Birthday, Bob-may the Dear Lord bless you, our favorite jolly good fellow.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Mary's Mantle, a Catholic home for expectant mothers, at https://marysmantle.net/