ROBERT BARKER

1944 - 2017

Robert (Bob) Roger Barker Robert, to his family members back East (Bob to his many friends out West), passed away peacefully in Salt Lake City, UT, on March 11, 2017 at the age of 72. Robert was born on December 5, 1944 in Hoboken, NJ to Eugene and Catherine Barker. Prior to relocating to SLC in 2015 for healthcare reasons, Robert was a longtime resident of Elko, Nevada, settling there circa 1970. He loved living in Elko (aka The Heart of Northeast Nevada), which had a sort of symmetry to it, since Robert had a pretty good heart himself and hailed from Northeast Jersey. For decades Robert openly shared much of the love he had in his good heart with his beloved adopted hometown by unstintingly volunteering countless hours supporting various sports programs for the youth of Elko, serving as the popular local public announcer at events. Robert was also a proud United States Navy veteran, serving aboard the USS Boxer (LPH-4) through all of 1965 and into 1966. During that time, the Boxer successfully transported and delivered 200 helicopters of the US Army's 1st Cavalry Division to South Vietnam. This is of some note, since those same helicopters subsequently made a sizable difference in the decisive outcome of the hard fought Battle of Ia Drang for our troops, as recounted in the book 'We Were Soldiers Once And Young,' upon which the movie 'We Were Soldiers' is based. Robert was preceded in death by his parents Eugene and Catherine Barker and brother Larry, and is survived by his brother Gene (Edith), Boise, ID; sister Ginger (Joseph) Dominic, Galloway, NJ; brother Richard (Joan), Toms River, NJ; brother Bill (Sharon), Shelton, WA; many other family members throughout America; and dozens of dear friends he made in Elko over the years. A memorial service celebrating Robert (Bob) Barker's life of honorable service to both his country and community will be duly held in Elko at a future date still to be determined.