Robert "Bob" James Ferguson

Born March 11, 1947

Died January 4, 2025

Robert James Ferguson was a beloved husband, father, son, brother, uncle and friend. He passed away on January 4, 2025 at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange County, California after an unexpected brief illness. He was 77 years young.

He was born to James and Norma Ferguson on March 11, 1947 in Hendricks, Minnesota. He would ALWAYS and ONLY be called Robert by his mother, but as he got older, he was Bob to the rest of us who got to know and love him! His folks brought him home to their family farm, near Lake Benton, MN, where he lived, played, did chores, occasionally misbehaved and enjoyed various childhood adventures for the first 10 years of his life. He would soon be joined by a little sister, Sandra.

Bob loved life on that farm and would fondly recall stories of riding to school on the back of his dad’s tractor along snow covered roads in the winter, or trying to play cowboy by hopping on the back of a young calf (only to be thrown off and almost kicked in the head!) He loved eating some of the fresh vegetables and fruits straight out of his mother’s garden, including the fresh rhubarb which he would sneak into the kitchen and cover in sugar as a favorite snack. He loved to tell the story of the “giant” ornery goose in the farmyard that chased and attacked him when he was a little boy, until his dad came along with a pitchfork to stop the aggressive bird. He remembered that as the best tasting goose dinner he ever ate!

When Bob turned 10, the family moved off the farm. As Bob’s father followed a path to different career opportunities, he moved the family with him, and so Bob found new friends and adventures in places such as Pipestone, Minnesota, Clay Center, Nebraska, and eventually Rapid City, South Dakota. He recalled having lots of fun and lots of freedom as a young boy riding his bike “everywhere,” enjoying visits with the relatives, and making money doing odd jobs and collecting pop bottles for the cash deposits. He loved listening to Wolfman Jack play rock’n’roll on the local radio at night and would spend hours building and painting Revell hot rod model kits.

By the time he was in junior high, his family was living in Rapid City, South Dakota. Once he started high school, his mom and dad presented him with his first motorcycle, a Honda Cub, to make it easier for him to get around. He admitted to being a “little crazy” with that bike, but he loved the freedom and the experience, and from then on, he was a motorcycle guy. (He would go on to own two different Harleys, as well as a variety of dirt bikes over the years!) When he turned 16, his dad decided he needed something more practical, so he traded that motorcycle in and presented Bob with a 1956 Chevy Belair sedan, his first car! Bob had long been focused on cars and hot rods and all things automotive, and that first Chevy opened the door to a life filled with finding, fixing, fine-tuning, trading and driving old cars.

In 1965, Bob’s dad and mom moved the family to Santa Ana, California. Bob attended his last year of high school at Santa Ana Valley High, but after that, he much preferred the opportunity to earn money and find his own way in the world. He landed a job in a gas station, with the idea of eventually working his way into some kind of career focused on cars, but in 1967 the US government had a different idea. Bob was drafted and inducted into the Army in August, 1967 and was then sent to Vietnam in February, 1968, just in time for the Tet Offensive.

Bob served in a mortar platoon during his time in Vietnam, and he honestly did not expect to make it out alive. Despite being exposed to Agent Orange and his “dislike” for the US Army way of life, he took his responsibility to his mortar platoon buddies seriously. Bob made it back from Vietnam in February 1969, and was honorably discharged in August, 1969.

Once he was back home in Santa Ana, California, he found his way into the Apprenticeship Program for the International Union of Operating Engineers and started a long and fruitful career as a heavy equipment operator. During the early years of his career in the 1970s, Bob ran the big, twin-engine scrapers (sometimes known as earthmovers) on even bigger “dirt spreads” that eventually became the housing tracts in Mission Viejo, Irvine, Tustin, Orange and Anaheim Hills that so many SoCal residents now call home.

One day in 1976, Bob drove over to his employer’s small construction office to pick up his paycheck, and as he was walking through the parking lot, he met and chatted with Lorri, his soon-to-be future wife! Lorri worked in an office space shared with the construction office and was leaving for the day. Bob decided that he needed to know her better, so he hurried back into the construction office, asked if anyone there could share with him the phone number for “that girl”, and the next day called her for a date. After a short courtship, Bob and Lorri were wed in June, 1977 and remained happily married for 47 years.

Bob brought Lorri home to the ranch-style house in Garden Grove, California that he had wisely purchased just two years earlier. In 1980, they welcomed their first son, Bryan (Bob in the delivery room: “See that? It’s a boy!”) and then in 1983, very much to Bob’s great joy, they had another son, Kevin.

Bob continued to work in the Operating Engineers field and became a skilled and sought-after heavy equipment operator who was proficient on large scrapers, finish-grade scrapers, mixers, dozers, loaders and blades (motor graders). He was most satisfied when he was working on smaller finish-grade scrapers which required a keen eye and a level of finesse to get the finished dirt “pad” or surface just right. His work took him to construction sites all throughout Southern California, as well as to some areas of Central California and occasionally even to Nevada and Wyoming. He was sometimes called upon to work on jobs related to damage caused by the aftermath of earthquakes and mudslides, and he always worked as long and as late as they needed to get it right.

In 2001, Bob noticed that he was occasionally losing his balance and falling down without warning, and he sometimes had trouble swallowing, which eventually led him to specialists that confirmed a diagnosis of Inclusion Body Myositis. This “damn disease” as he called it, was a progressive, degenerative muscle disease with few treatments and no cure, but he was determined to watch his sons thrive and develop into fine young men and he wanted lots more time with Lorri. Bob continued working as a heavy equipment operator even as his muscles were getting weaker, and climbing up on the machines got tougher. Finally, in 2008, in light of the “great recession” and with construction jobs disappearing, Bob retired from the Operating Engineers and the construction profession. It was time to relax, drive around in his 1940 Ford hot rod and expand his collection of model trains!

Bob kept pushing forward in spite of his muscle disease, even when that meant using crutches to balance as he walked, getting help up from a seated position and no more climbing stairs. In 2014, Bob and Lorri moved to a home in Anaheim, California that was better suited to living with this disability. For as long as he could, he spent much of his time hanging pictures where Lorri wanted them, organizing his garage and the tools in his toolboxes exactly how he wanted them, and building shelves for his “train room.” He enjoyed taking short trips with Lorri in their RV and happily visiting with his wonderful neighbors. Even as his muscles grew weaker and he faced new health challenges, he forged ahead with equal parts stubbornness and good humor, and with the help of an electric wheelchair!

He loved his sons and considered them to be two of the “best friends a man could ever have.” He enjoyed teaching them how to ride dirt bikes in the desert, taking them with him to work during summer vacations, and as they got older, taking trips to local car shows and working on projects together. He was happy just hanging out with them while talking about his “good ol’ days” and drinking sodas and snacking on candy bars. He was especially proud that his sons would turn to him for advice and good counsel, even if they didn’t always follow that advice! He took great pleasure in having such a close relationship with his “boys.”

He loved his wife beyond measure, and he said so often…most times with words, sometimes with flowers or gifts, but ALWAYS through his strong work ethic, protective nature and upbeat demeanor. Underneath the tall, bearded (some would say “intimidating”) exterior was a man with a loyal and passionate commitment to his wife and family, to his friends and to his country.

Bob is survived by his wife, Lorri, his adult sons Bryan and Kevin, his sister Sandra Hazan, his many nieces and nephews, and a large loving extended family. Bob was one-of-a-kind, in the best possible way! He will be greatly missed and remembered always.

His ashes will be laid to rest on Friday, April 4th at 11am during a committal ceremony at the Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California.