Robert James Hoskins

Robert James Hoskins, 92, passed away at home under Hospice Care and the care of his family at 9:30 a.m. on January 26, 2017. Cause of death was heart failure. Robert also suffered from Alzheimer's Disease.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, January 28, 2017 at 12:30 p.m., Mitchell Funeral Home, 7209 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh. The family will receive guests prior to service from 11 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.. Burial will immediately follow at Raleigh Memorial Park with military honors.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.MitchellatRMP.com. below us a full Obitiary.

We will work up the obit Thursday morning with funeral home. In the meantime, here's what goes in the Obit:

Robert James Hoskins was born Sept 22, 1924 in southern Illinois. Known as "Bob" by most and "Rob" by others, he grew up on a working farm in the Bismarck, Illinois area. Bob had one brother and one sister. He was raised with faithful and steady attendance at the Church of the Nazarene. He said he professed Christ and was baptized (by immersion) as a child.

Bob Joined the Navy in WWII as a Seaman. He was a Secretary to the ship's Captain of at least one ship. He was aboard several ships in the Mediterranean Sea during his time in the Navy. Bob later went to work for an Illinois telephone company. He loved climbing high on the telephone poles and never afraid to climb high on the house or a tree to do work even in old age. Bob later went to work with Pyrofax Gas Company, a propane gas company of which he eventually became District Manager out of Raleigh. Bob retired with Pyrofax gas at age 62.

Bob met wife Violet Huffman at a roller skating rink in Southern Illinois after the end of WWII. The two were married April 25, 1947. They lived in Illinois and then Ohio, moving to Raleigh in 1964. At the time of Bob's death, he and Vi had been married 69 years and 9 months.

Bob and Vi have 3 children: Jack Hoskins of Miller's Creek, NC; Perry Hoskins of Columbia, SC, and Christy Carter of Zebulon, NC. There are 4 grandchildren: Brandie Ballard of Washington state; Amy Hoskins of Vermont; Gareth Hoskins of Virginia, and Robyn Hoskins of New Orleans, La. There is also a great-grandchild, 2 year old little miss Kennedy Ballard of Washington state.

Bob was always a do-it-yourselfer. One of his favorite sayings was "If you want something done right, do it yourself." And he always made sure he did things right. Bob was known for figuring out how to make or fix just about anything. People often called on Bob if they needed something built, fixed or figured-out and they felt pretty safe in knowing it would be done right. Bob was a perfectionist at all times.

Always fascinated with flight, Bob, with a good friend, rebuilt a Piper Cub airplane. At one point Bob got carried away with building one of the wings and had to knock a wall down to get the wing out of the house. Bob loved to fly the Piper Cub and took the children on many flights over the fields of Illinois. When son Perry was old enough Bob encouraged him to get his own pilot's license. In the meantime Bob built, in great detail, scale model radio-controlled airplanes, which he and Perry flew together. The planes still hang in his basement. Bob was thrilled with space-flight and the moon landings, taking the family to visit NASA. He bought his first color TV for the sole purpose of watching the in-color broadcast of the moon landing. He was thrilled when his son Perry met John Glenn while serving the Dept of Defense in Afghanistan.

Ever expanding his knowledge, Bob taught himself how to use desktop computers when they were still being sold in pre-Microsoft Windows days, in the days of "DOS" format. That was no small task. Soon he was studying genealogy and traveled to many places, digging out old maps and records in many locations, for his research. Eventually Bob wrote a book containing the Hoskins family genealogy with research going back to before the 1600's. He said he wished he could have gone to England to continue his search back to the Vikings.

In later years, having exhausted his research and other projects, Bob took up wood-working and even the constructing of a stringed musical instrument. He built many beautiful pieces, from a clock, to corner cabinets, to a mandolin.

Bob was very health conscious. Being brought to this consciousness after being told he had to have a quadruple-bypass heart surgery, he immediately became a vegetarian. He had already been walking one to three miles daily for quite some time before this and continued to do so for many years. He once said he wanted to live to be 100. He never again had to have another heart surgery. In advanced age his doctor told him he was healthier than most of his much younger patients.

Whatever Bob did, he did well. His hard-working dedicated Christian parents taught him well, and he taught his children the same ethic. He was known to be thoroughly honest and trustworthy in all his dealings. His family and friends honored him for these things. His 92 years were well-spent.

-Christy

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