Robert Warren Rooke

Bob moved from Fort William (now known as Thunder Bay), Ontario, Canada to Tampa, FL at age 11 in 1952. After attending Plant High School for one year, he went to Gordon Military College where he finished high school and one year of college. At Gordon he was active in the honor guard and drill team. He was squad leader of the firing squad for several cadet funerals. He received the Gordon trophy for being squad leader of the best drill team squad at the end of his senior year. After one year of college, he transferred to Alabama Polytechnic Institute which became Auburn University in his junior year.

Bob initially majored in Physics but finished in March of 1963 with a BS in Chemistry. He taught high school for a few years then took courses in computer programming. This became his passion and he spent the remainder of his working years in this field. When he retired he began searching genealogy records for his and Sondra’s family. He loved going to the Sellers’ reunion in Cottonwood, AL for many years and collected large amounts of data for this project along with information taken from headstones in the many cemeteries that he visited in the United States and in Canada. Bob enjoyed taking attendance in his Sunday School class of 30+ years. He coordinated the prayer lists for the class which was sent to all members so they could all be informed of the prayer requests that Sunday and all that came up during the week. He was very active in his computer club and genealogy group until he was unable to. He enjoyed line dancing with friends at the YMCA and eating breakfast at McDonalds.

He continued to keep alumni database for Gordon State College Alumni Association. He was the go to guy when information needed to be passed along. He will be missed by many.

If you wish to make a donation in his memory, they may be made to:

The Compassion House

C/O First Baptist Church Brandon

216 N. Parsons Avenue

Brandon, FL 33510

Graveside Funeral

To be held December 18th in Sneads, FL at Pope Cemetery. Time to be determined.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.HillsboroMemorial.com for the Rooke family.