Robert "Bob" Sabota

Ever keen on a road trip and primed for a Sunday drive any day of the week, Robert Russell Sabota of Houston left us Memorial Day, May 25, 2020, to finally join Edna Senick Sabota, his wife of 48 years, who preceded him in death July 5, 2013.

Bob and Edna live on in the hearts and memories of their daughter, Dannielle (Danni) Sabota, and her husband of 20 years, Mark Bazin of Houston. Bob is also survived by his brother, Jack Sobota, and his wife, Barbara of Bethlehem, Pa., their children and grandchildren; his sister, Carol Sue Houser, and her husband, Robert of Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., their children and grandchildren; many more members of the Sabota, Senick and Bazin families; and loved ones and friends he made in life and in business travels all over the world. He also leaves behind his much-adored papillons, Mik and Rachel, and grand-dogs, Violet and Cardi. The oldest of three children, Bob was born Oct. 2, 1938, in Bethlehem to John Stephen and Catherine Unger Sobota.

Bob graduated from Bethlehem High School and played football at Rutgers University. He flew fighter jets in the United States Marine Corps, serving between the Korean and Vietnam Wars. “I wanted to enlist before they called me,” he said of his decision to become a naval aviator. He completed solo flights in the T-34 (‘61) and T-38 (’62), earned carrier qualification on the USS Antietam (’62) and remained a military and aviation history enthusiast throughout his life. Years later, he constructed and flew his own experimental RV6A airplane and made numerous trips to the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual Oshkosh Air Show in Wisconsin.

Bob knew Edna growing up in Bethlehem, but it wasn’t until small talk around the bar at a mutual friend’s wedding reception led to a date when Bob said to Edna, “Hey, hang around awhile.” They married June 5, 1965, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and Danni, their only child, was born the following year. They lived on the second floor of a two-unit apartment building he bought from his maternal grandparents and renovated. It would be the first of four complete home renovations and many smaller construction projects that included the nifty red pier-and-beam sandbox he built for Danni and included white ledge seats at the corners for Edna to sit and read with her feet in the sand while their daughter played.

A man of monumental courage whose constant smile and easy laugh illuminated any room, Bob was tough, resilient and relentlessly optimistic. Admittedly not a stellar classroom student, he achieved brilliant success in life and business, gleaning knowledge from the experience of others, hands-on learning, mentorship and trial and error. Confident and affable, Bob never met a stranger and valued friendships. He held true to his Catholic faith, as a Third Degree member of the Knights of Columbus and a participant in the Men of Malvern Catholic retreat programs. He claimed patience wasn’t one of his virtues, yet he exemplified it in his life with a house full of women, including the first three family female dogs.

He was the original business developer, an old-school marketing ace and master salesman. One of his first and more memorable jobs was as a beer distributor for Ballantine Ale. A dream job for a young person.

Upon completing his degree from Northampton Community College by attending courses at night, Bob entered management in the engineering and construction industry, a career that soon presented the opportunity to relocate his young family to Houston for a position at Brown & Root, now KBR. Working at Brown & Root for more than 25 years, he skyrocketed to an executive level specializing in planning and scheduling shutdowns for power plants, petrochemical and other industrial facilities. He devised a proprietary process for paper mill shutdowns, maximizing the capacity for partial operations to continue during the overhaul while performing the upgrades safely and efficiently. Bob’s internationally sought-after expertise took him to job sites across the United States and Canada and all over the world: England, Egypt, South Africa, Thailand, New Zealand, Libya, Mexico, Venezuela and the Czech Republic.

With Czechoslovakian and Hungarian family roots, Bob particularly enjoyed his work for the Czech government on its Temelín nuclear power plant near České Budějovice. Several project meetings included the newly democratic country’s dissident playwright-turned-president Vaclav Havel, who relied on Bob’s technical advice above all others. While working in Prague, local colleagues in the business office occasionally opened his office door, smiled in greeting, said nothing and left. When Bob asked his translator why that was happening on a regular basis, the translator said people were curious to see what the American Czech looked like.

At work, Bob was a generous mentor and advocate for his employees. At home, Bob was a devoted husband and father and built a comfortable life for his family. He liked airplanes, vintage cars and learning about how things worked. He and Edna shared a passion as sports fans, particularly of baseball, football and NASCAR. They loved America and American values. Bob enjoyed helping Edna prepare for the extravagant meals she cooked for family and friends and was in charge of carving the meat. As a couple, their favorite culinary excursion was arriving at the 4 p.m. opening of Taste of Texas for filets and the salad bar or going out for fajitas at the Westside Omni. A meat-and-potatoes man, he still enjoyed trying new food and local cuisines—as long as potatoes were on the menu.

Bob crafted legendary toasts as a host or a guest at special events and he reveled in telling stories. One of Bob’s proudest achievements was the stellar result of the 18 months he spent with his son-in-law, Mark, helping him and Danni restore their 1912 historic home in Houston’s Old Sixth Ward. Though they contracted out the major jobs, they tackled most of the smaller tasks. When no contractor could be found to refurbish the original double-hung wood windows, Bob showed Mark what to do and together they repaired, restored and restrung the weights for each of the 20 windows.

Supremely organized and wed to his planning and scheduling charts and graphs, Bob also retained a clever sense of creativity and adventure. When Danni was very young, at that tell-me-a-story age, he made up a recurring quartet of animal characters who set out every night at Danni’s bedtime on some misadventure that began with the gang driving down Applebutter Road in their Plymouth Barracuda. Years later as a gift for Danni, Bob commissioned a draftsman colleague to create cartoon drawings of the animals to bring them and their personalities to life.

A big man in stature and of heart, Bob will be remembered for his love of his family, an unending kindness and his forgiveness of others.

Bob’s family would like to thank the many friends and helpers who kept his spirits high and helped him maintain his independence to live his life the way he wanted until the very end.

Family and friends are invited to celebrate Bob at a visitation 3-5 p.m. and rosary 5 p.m., Thursday, June 4, at Memorial Oaks Funeral Home, 13001 Katy Freeway, Houston, 77079. The funeral Mass will be 1 p.m., Friday, June 5, at St. Anne’s Catholic Church, 2140 Westheimer, Houston, 77098. Burial will follow at Glenwood Cemetery, 2525 Washington Ave., Houston, 77007, under the cypress tree with Edna and a view of downtown Houston and the Old Sixth Ward Historic District.