Deacon Bob was born in St. Louis Missouri, the youngest of three children. When his older brother passed away last year in April, he performed the funeral services in St. Louis.

His father worked for a dry goods company and his mother worked full-time for St. Louis county welfare. His older sister helped raise him since she is six years older than he. As a child, family trips were made to different places to visit his brother who was in Air Force.

Deacon chuckles, as he shared how he liked being an altar server, especially at funerals, because he got paid and was allowed to miss school. He stopped serving by the time he got to high school where he played football for a year. He considered himself one of the “bad boys” and spoiled. He has two cousins who became Priests, one of them is now a retired Bishop of Springfield, MO; so during high school he also was discerning the priesthood.

He graduated from Bishop DuBourg High School in 1966, and later went to Parks College of St Louis University getting a BS degree in Aerospace Engineering. At Parks, he had a memorable professor, Bob Bowls, who taught several math classes. He took Bob to school as he was paralyzed and in a wheelchair.  He was an inspiration for Deacon when he saw how, even with disabilities, with strength and perseverance, we can all achieve our goals. While in St. Louis, he worked for McDonnell Douglas for a year, and then went to the University of Arizona in Tucson on a four year NSF fellowship obtaining a MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering (ME). During this time, he was not attending church, but Julie brought him back and they married at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on August 10, 1974.

When he obtained his PhD in May 1975, his interest was to teach at the University but that didn’t work out. He had two job offers, one to teach in the ME Department at Texas Tech and the other was a research positon at Texaco’s R&D Lab in Houston.  Julie was pregnant at the time so he selected Texaco because he was able to start work in June.  Their first child, Christine was born in Oct 1975 in Katy; and they had three boys, born in 1976, 1977 and 1979. He left Texaco in 1978 and went to work for Conoco as a Petroleum Engineer. While working for Conoco, they moved six times in a span of 13 years, to Midland, Dubai, Houston, London, and Aberdeen, Scotland and settling back in Houston in 1991 for a time. While living there, he traveled back and forth to Russia without the family. In 1995, their two youngest sons joined them as they went to Caracas, Venezuela for a year and then moved to Midland for a second time in 1996. Tragically, on February 14, 1998, their 21 year old son died. This is when God got his attention, but through the support of Fr. James Bridges he chose family and church over work. In the fall of 1999, the diocese of San Angelo reinstituted the diaconate program. Up until that time, he was just a “Sunday Catholic” but he felt this was a call from God.  He and Julie discerned this and answered YES, beginning the deacon formation journey.  In Nov 2000, he attended a Karios retreat at the Lynaugh Unit in Fort Stockton, as part of diaconal ministry. This was his first time in a prison, where he knew God wanted him to serve.  In 2002, Conoco and Phillips merged and six months later, he decides to retire in July 2003. He was now happy to be able to dedicate full time to the Diaconate program. When he was ordained a Deacon in June 2004, Bishop Michael Pfeifer asked him to coordinate the prison ministry for the Diocese of San Angelo. He began the first “Catholic Prison Ministry” which has now expanded to over 30 incarceration facilities in the diocese.

After 13 years, the longest time in one place, they left Midland and moved to New Braunfels in 2010. After searching potential parishes for several months, he found a home at Good Shepherd in Schertz. In 2011, a new position, Director for Criminal Justice, in the Archdiocese of San Antonio was established where Deacon still serves.  With a great passion and love for this ministry, Deacon actually works full time in a “part time position” coordinating Catholic programs at 35 facilities of incarceration including 13 Kolbe Retreats each year. Besides this, he has found a home serving a loving congregation at St Thomas where he was assigned in July 2014.

During his international assignments with Conoco, as a family, Deacon, Julie, and their children enjoyed leisure travel going around the world twice. The favorite assignment for the family was Aberdeen, and while in the UK, they made many trips to Europe.  Now as busy as he is, they do get to do enjoy traveling and doing pilgrimages. They also, travel to visit and spend time with their children, grandchildren, and new great granddaughter. They have ten grandchildren, the oldest is 24 and the youngest is six months. They also have a great granddaughter who was born in August 2020.
His advice to someone considering becoming a Deacon is, to first decide where “you are” with the Lord. To consider the commitment and time required. If you have young children, it is probably not the best time to consider the diaconate. It is very difficult to juggle, work, family, and studies. Also, the wife must be in total agreement and committed to the program, as she will be active in ministry, as well.