Robert L. Free

Bob and his mother spent his first two years in Odessa while his father completed his military tour. After reuniting, the family lived in various locations until Bob’s dad took a job with Gulf Oil as a field service engineer and settled in Houston, where he was headquartered throughout Bob’s high school years. Lots of traveling, camping and hunting were done during these years in November 1959 while taking another of their tours; they came across a piece of land and a place they had never been before just north of Nacogdoches at Appleby. This piece of property, ultimately referred to as the “farm” became the home for all of them.

Bob’s grade school and junior high years were in Waco and Dallas where he was drum major in junior high. High school was at Spring Branch High School in the Houston area where he excelled in music and was awarded a full scholarship to Texas Tech but was cut short when the dry climate caused much illness. After a year at Tech, Bob transferred to Stephen F Austin where his parents were already living. One of the jobs Bob had in Nacogdoches was with Moore business forms, a company new to Nacogdoches. He was one of the first 20 or so employees at the plant.

It was in Nacogdoches that Bob met Victoria Jeanne (Tory) Weaver in the spring of 1965, having been introduced by best friends, Larry Widner and Susan Widner, and on January 22, 1966, were married.

In January 1967, immediately upon graduation, Bob was inducted into Naval OCS. After OCS Bob was deployed on the USS Valley Forge, much of the time was on the DMZ during the Vietnam conflict. After separating with the Navy, Bob & Tory decided to move to Houston and then to Austin. When Tory was several months pregnant with a new job for Bob, Enos Business Forms. Gregory Alan was born in Austin in March 1972. Shortly afterward, Bob was offered a job with an independent business form dealer, Coastal Business Forms. In January 1975, Rebecca Victoria was born.

All of this time the “farm” and the house thereon were either occupied by Bob’s folks or rented but never sold. One of the times the renters wanted to move to another location, Bob and Tory decided it was a good time for them to move to Nacogdoches. This was when Bob decided to become the Sole Proprietor of Piney Woods Business Forms and begin a long and happy life in Nacogdoches.

During this time Bob was very involved in the community, including serving on the Appleby Water Board and the Appleby Volunteer Fire Department. He became very involved in Appleby Troup 101 of the Boy Scouts. Many weekends were spent with scout activities, which had been an important part of his life growing up

Bob and Tory were very involved in their children’s lives, in the Band Boosters, FFA, Westminster Presbyterian Church and various other organizations.

Bob is proceeded by his fraternal grandparents, John Riley and Vera Inez McIntyre, his maternal grandparents, Herbert Fetchner and Sedalia Fetchner, many aunts and uncles and cousins, mother-in-law, Elizabeth V Atkinson Weaver, sister-in-law Martha Elizabeth Weaver Miller.

Bob is survived by his wife, his son Gregory Alan and daughter Rebecca Victoria, Greg's children, Randall Robert and wife Macey and great grand-daughter Blair, Victoria Lynn and fiance Travis, Rebecca's children, Micah Elise Victoria, Jacob Israel and Delilah Rose and Rebecca's partner Billy Brunson and daughter Daniella Brunson and honorary Zoe Lynn Kelley. Also survived by niece, daughter of Martha Miller, Melissa Elizabeth O'Brien and Melissa's children and husband, Kirk. Bob is also survived by numerous cousins and extended family. When I asked about his hobbies, he always liked to say that his family, his business that afforded many great friendships, his beloved dogs, farm animals, and all the wonderful critters were his hobbies. Many hours were spent listening to classical music and information radio. In lieu of flowers, make a donation to your local animal shelter or your local NPR radio station.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, January 31, 2026, 1:00pm at Cason Monk-Metcalf Funeral Directors.