Our good friend Robert "Bob" Warkentin who had a great sense of humor, is now inside the pearly gates telling one of his great One- Liners. Bob passed away at The Methodist Hospital on January 11, 2020.
Bob was born in Oklahoma City to Ralph and Sarah Warkentin on September 20, 1944. He graduated from University of Houston with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics in 1968 and in 1975 received a Master of Science in Chemistry.
In 1965 Bob enlisted in the Army National Guard of Texas and was honorably discharged in 1971. He then enlisted in the United States Army and was honorably discharged in 1974. His final enlistment was with the United States Army Reserve in 1974. He was a Warrant Officer assigned to the Criminal Intelligence Unit. He spent his active duty time in the Army’s lab doing trace evidence analysis. He finally retired in 1997, after 32 years of service.
Houston Police Department was honored to have Bob as a cadet in 1965 and assigned him to the Crime Lab. During his tenure, he wore many hats and worked in several disciplines. He was a breath test supervisor, analyzed controlled substances, serological evidence and primarily specialized in trace evidence. Bob made many crime scenes, documenting and collecting the evidence, which he brought back to the lab and analyzed. He was instrumental in training the first formal crime scene units for the department. He retired from the Police Department in 1989 after 24 years of service.
For recreation, Bob took up scuba diving and underwater photography, and traveled throughout the Caribbean enjoying his new hobby. In 1987, prior to his retirement from the police department, he made up his mind that he was going to start a little underwater camera service and repair business. This little
business, Bob Warkentin’s Southern Nikonos Service Center, ended up being a big business with lenses, cameras and strobes coming in from around the world for service and repair. He also conducted repair workshops at many popular diving destinations, held seminars at Nikon’s NIKONOS SHOOTOUT competitions and at Houston’s SEASPACE expositions. He was working on underwater cameras the week prior to his death.
When Heather Marie came into Bob’s life in 1973, his whole life changed. He loved cuddling, rocking and feeding his daughter in the middle of the night. She was such a ray of sunshine in his life, that he nicknamed her “Sun Face”. He loved to spoil her and show her off to all his friends and co-workers. She loved traveling with her “Papa Bear” and even learned how to scuba. Bob was her biggest protector and he gently guided her through her path in life. His heart was broken in 1998, when Heather died from complications from juvenile diabetes.
On a Cozumel scuba diving trip in 1977, Bob met and fell in love with Gwendolynn Hailey. Bob romanced his sweetheart Gwen, and married her in 1985. Bob appreciated her enthusiasm in assisting him with his
camera business and they both traveled throughout the Caribbean on “work vacations” doing camera workshops, seminars and squeezing in some time for fun scuba diving. Heather joined Bob and Gwen on many of their outings and vacations and they were know as the “Three Bears”. They all loved cats and dogs and eventually settled on breeding and showing Norwich Terriers. Cruise ship travel became their favorite way to relax and see the world. Their favorite trip was through the Panama Canal. Bob lost the love of his life when Gwen died on August 29, 2019.
Bob is preceded in death by his parents Ralph and Sarah, his wife Gwendolynn (Gwen) and daughter Heather Marie. He is survived by his cousins Patrick and wife Alison, Robyn Burns, Colette Warkentin, Bart Regier, John Regier, Susan Regier, John Warkentin, Carl Warkentin and sisters-in-law Frances Boutin and Clarissa Streetman.
Services will be held on Thursday, January 23, 2020 in the Chapel of Forest Park Westheimer Funeral Home, 12800 Westheimer Road Houston, TX 77077. Visitation will begin at 9:30 a.m. and The Celebration of Life Service will commence at 10:00 a.m. The Committal Service will immediately follow at Forest Park Westheimer Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
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