Robert H. Penning

Robert “Bob” Penning lived a gifted life. Married 57 years to his one true love Bea, he was father of three children, grandfather of seven, and great grandfather of one. He lived in the Portage and Kalamazoo areas with summers spent on the “farm,” his family homestead near Cadillac. His working years were full of challenges and accomplishments, and his years of retirement occupied by his omnipresent projects surrounded by admiring friends and his growing family.

Optimism and jobs were flush in Kalamazoo when his mother, Myrtle Meyers, married during the late 1920s. Bob was born on March 19, 1930, and spent his early years in Kalamazoo’s Recreation Park neighborhood and in Otsego, with summers working at his grandparents’ farm located outside Tustin in Osceola County. He welcomed his step father Thomas “Bud” Donahue into his life during his childhood years as he attended the Otsego and Kalamazoo schools, briefly playing football. He got his first full-time job at the Allied Paper Company in Kalamazoo during the war, working there for 24 years. He continued to read and study throughout his life, learning the skills for his many trades on the job and later lecturing at Glenn Oak Community College.

Bob met Beatrice Adams on a blind date in 1947. The two dated almost three years before they were married on June 30, 1950. Bob received his draft notice from the U. S. Army two years later, and he served proudly in occupied Germany as a maintenance staff sergeant in charge of a motor pool. Bea remained at their new home in Portage, built in part by Bob and his stepfather Bud. Bob returned from the Army in 1954. Their daughter, Pennie Lynn, was born the following year, followed by the birth of sons Perry Lee in 1957 and Paul Allan in 1960.

Bob loved his children, was an attentive father, and treasured their births as some of the greatest events in his life. He taught them many things, from proverbs such as “it only costs a nickel more to go first class” and “the job isn’t done until the paperwork is finished” to basic mechanical skills such as caring for and fixing cars. Above all, he gave them the confidence that they could do anything they put their mind to, words they carry with them to this day. Bob wanted most for his children to grow to be happy and successful in life, to be good people, and to know that they were loved by him.

For fun, Bob loved to take his family on trips, often leisurely Sunday rides down winding country roads in the Kalamazoo area. In 1968, they took an unforgettable 28-day trip west on Route 66, just before it was decommissioned, stopping along the road’s legendary landmarks and sights along the way. Bea wasn’t sure she wanted her family to make the long trip, but they visited California and played in shorts in the mountain snow, and the trip became the family’s best ever, second only to he and Bea’s trip to Alaska after he retired.

Bob worked hard to provide for his family during the good and bad years of the 1960s. When he learned in advance that the paper mill was going to close, Bob found a job as an assistant custodian at the old Pershing Elementary School in Portage, and he worked for the Portage Public School s for 22 years, retiring in 1992 as Maintenance Supervisor. A fair and trustworthy supervisor, Bob never assigned his staff to jobs he wouldn’t do and treated his workers with dignity, always listening to their input and never disciplining them in public. He made sure all his workers were cross trained in different skills and capable of working as a team in time of need. Bob succeeded in being a great example to all those around him, and in doing so, was well respected by those he worked with.

Retirement gave Bob time to devote to his hobbies and preoccupations, included model building, photography, reading, shooting, and his “projects,” home and yard improvements for himself and others . He loved the outdoors, especially at the farm, along with fishing and hunting. Often times he’d bring along the rod or gun as an excuse to spend time admiring the beauty of the world around him. Bob was a man of great faith, certain that God was not meant to be worshiped in a man-made building. He lived his life according to the Golden Rule as much as any other man.

Bob was diagnosed with cancer in early 2008, and after a short, difficult battle, he died peacefully at his home on Wednesday, May 14, 2008, at the age of 78. Although Bob will be deeply missed, his legacy of love and caring leaves his loved ones with wonderful memories and a strong foundation to look to for comfort.

Learn more about Bob, view his Life Story film, and visit with his family and friends on Wednesday, June 18, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Life Story Funeral Home, 5975 Lovers Lane, Portage. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, June 19, at the same location. Members of his family include his wife, Bea; three children: Pennie Lynn and her husband, Richard Junger, Perry Lee and his wife, Cindy Ann Penning, and Paul Allan Penning. Other members of his family include 7 grandchildren: Gregory Robert Mason and his fiancée, Amanda Charbonneau, Mark Lowell Mason, Zachary Digby-Junger, Casandra Digby-Junger, Tiffany Kay Penning and her fiancé, Albert Cazarez, Jessica Lynn Penning, and David Lee Penning; and one great grandson: Christobal Warwick Cazarez-Penning. Please visit Bob’s memory page at www.lifestorynet.com, where you may share a memory or photo with his family or sign his online guest book before coming to the funeral home. Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice Care of SW Michigan.