Bob DesMarteau was a jack of all trades who lived and worked in Hays, KS; Salina, KS; Sydney, NE; Tulsa, OK; Kansas City, KS & MO; Lamar, CO; Wichita, KS; Oklahoma City, OK; and finally Overland Park, KS.
Bob married Marigene Phillips on Easter Monday, March 29, 1948 in Kansas City, MO, and they lived 63 loving years together until Marigene passed February 13, 2011.
Most of Bob’s lifelong friends sadly have passed on, including his best friend Phil Froeschl who died May 16, 2007. Both of Bob’s sisters, Bette and Pat, and his brother, Al Jr., preceded him in death.
Bob and Marigene’s eldest son Phillip DesMarteau died September 25, 2014. They also mourned two grandchildren, two-day-old Maria Finch, November 25, 1980, and 18-year-old Bobby Poland, September 1, 2002.
Bob’s children Jean (Ray Finch), Lawrence, KS, Patricia (Kevin) Leeper, Chelsea, OK, and Steve DesMarteau, Wichita, KS, his 9 grandchildren, and 15 great grandchildren carry on his life and legend in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Bob loved doing all sorts of puzzles, designing buildings, entertaining lively discussion, and playing a good game of poker with close friends. He could out-bartend his peers, fix electronics, sew drapery, do carpentry, and make the best-ever peanut brittle.
Bob was unmoving in his principles. He was a strict Catholic and true to his friend and mentor Fr. Francis Broderick, O.S.B. Bob knew his own mind and he readily shared his honest opinions. Above all, Bob was a sincere, good, and generous man who markedly has left this world a better place.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.
